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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25545433">A demon by any other name.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soukitas/pseuds/Soukitas'>Soukitas</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shall We Date?: Obey Me!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Cheating, Drinking, F/M, Heavy Drinking, It's become full angst lksfkd I'm sorry, Light Angst, Mammon is a sweet boy he's just stupit at times, Sex for Favors, chapter two related tags:, i promise things will change in the next chapter i just needed mc to feel the pain for a bit, listen... this is just a piece to cry, mentions of cheating</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:14:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>41,558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25545433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soukitas/pseuds/Soukitas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You have been dating Mammon for most of your exchange student life in the devildom. Not to lie, it's been great, but at some point he makes you remember what he really is: The Avatar of Greed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Main Character/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Reader, Solomon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) &amp; Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>510</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Money problems.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>"Unpredictable”</em> you said firmly. The rest of the people around you stared in a mixture of disbelief and mockery<em> “Seriously?”</em> Asmodeus barged in with a doubtful laughter<em> “that’s the word you’d use to describe your relationship with Mammon? Unpredictable?”</em> he continued. You could tell, by the quiet giggles they were emitting, that none of his brothers were expecting such an answer. <em>“Come on Asmo, give her a break, that’s her boyfriend we’re talking about anyways, she’s not going to admit that she’s living the bad life”</em> Leviathan felt the need to add<em> “Well, I think it’s a good choice of words, considering it’s Mammon we’re talking about”</em> Satan followed; you knew well this is the way they had always been, taking him for a pushover, a scumbag, good-for-nothing, greedy idiot, but you also knew, you knew that side of him none of the members of his family had ever managed to find, or rather weren’t even interested in finding, sure, he was passionate, a bit over the top, and constantly trying to put up a show, but you were well aware that he also enjoyed making others laugh, he desired to share joy, and aimed to be loved just as much as he could love, and above everything else, you knew it didn’t matter how much he screwed up he’d never do anything to put his brothers in danger, he’d destroy the entire realm if needed to protect the people he loved, you included of course.</p><p>Unpredictable. That’s the word you had chosen that night during truth-or-dare, drinking with a couple of your friends while your boyfriend was out being scolded by the eldest brother, to describe your 6-month-old relationship with the Avatar of Greed, and boy, were you right. Not even the psychic witches up in the human world would had been able to predict this, your tears rolling down your cheeks in the middle of the classroom, as you watched a video that should had never seen the light played over and over again on your phone screen. It’s not that you wanted to keep watching, it’s just that you couldn’t stop, not while your heart stopped and your blood seemed to run dry, while your hands felt cold, and your heart felt broken, no, not broken, destroyed.</p><p>Word would reach later on Diavolo’s ears of how you stormed out of the classroom, apparently without justification according to your potions teacher, and didn’t seem to show up for any more of your classes that day; he’d later also hear a similar story about Mammon. He was well aware of your relationship and agreed to it as long as it didn’t affect your studies, but you were young and full of love, what’s a little getaway together for a day? There was no need to tell Lucifer. Not this time at least, for all he was concerned you two were just off somewhere around the gardens smooching it out. He was wrong.</p><p>His sun-kissed skin had lost all color, those bright blue eyes seemed to shine more than ever, and you, you dreaded them now more than ever.<em> “I…”</em> Mammon paused<em> “Listen… I really can explain.”</em> He said with a trembly voice. <em>“Explain!?”</em> your tone was so high it bordered in a scream “<em>Even if you could, there’s no excusable explanation for this!”</em> with pure anger emanating from your soul you grasped your phone, tightly, and hit the play button for the fiftieth time that day, you could hear the lewd noises coming out of the speaker, the female voice was squeaky, she was loud, arrogantly loud, you were already used to it, from the million times you had watched the video, but what still brought you to tears every time was the loud gasp followed by a moan from a voice you recognized almost too well, that was your boyfriend’s voice, that was your boyfriend on top of another woman, your boyfriend cheating, and enjoying it, with another woman. It took him a few seconds of watching to start talking again <em>“That’s not what it looks like, that’s a witch and I…”</em> he was going to keep going, but an almost-screech from your part shut him up<em> “Keep watching until the end!”</em> He did, even if he knew every part of it by memory, he had lived through it in flesh after all, but he didn’t know this version had a little bonus scene, just seconds after he had dressed up and left the witch had turned her attention to the camera, and with a bright, conquering smile she said <em>“Isn’t it incredible what a couple thousand grimm can get you?”</em> After the video was finally done a hellishly silence overcame the room, he just stared in disbelief, in shame, at the faint reflection the dark screen offered of himself. It was becoming overbearing to just stand there, dead in life, looking at someone whose face you’d rather smash against a wall<em> “How much was it?”</em> it’s all your managed to blurt out. He was taken aback, confused as for why in the hell that would be the important part to you <em>“Babe, don’t you think we should…”</em> he intended to avoid the question, but you weren’t having it, not one bit<em> “I asked how much was it!?”</em> you yelled back. He sighed defeatedly, his gaze lowered to the floor, his bangs falling forward enough to cover his eyes<em> “Four thousand.”</em> He muttered. Your knees went weak, you had to take a step back to prevent yourself to falling down, unable to look at him you turned your back and pressed your palms do your forehead <em>“Four thousand. Four thousand!”</em> you kept exclaiming<em> “All our relationship was worth to you was four thousand grimm!?”</em> you said with your eyes shut tight in a failing attempt to keep the tears from falling.<em> “No!”</em> he took a step forward as he yelled in your direction<em> “I didn’t know she was filming us. This was never supposed to get to you!”</em> Mammon had never been great with words, quality which you used to find adorable, how he got stuck and contradicted himself while trying to act cool, but now there was nothing cute about it, it wasn’t making you giggle, it was aggravating the fire that had already been lit within you.<em> “And you were going to go around without telling me!? You were going to go back to my bed, claiming that you loved me, professing that you adored me, and how much you treasured me, all that knowing you had sex with another girl?!”</em> your words had made him sink back onto his bed, for the first time in his life Mammon was thinking about the right thing to say, he remained silent for a couple of seconds, the lack of will from his part was getting to your nerves, but just when you were about to go into another fit, he spoke up <em>“I got summoned by her that night; young witches are more complicated than older ones, they want you to help them satisfy their own sins, they want recognition and fame, even if it’s just an illusion. She just needed me to show up for some sort of gala, it was being held at a casino, she wanted to show me off as her date and all, I made sure to not bring any money to avoid gambling in the human world, but she had a bunch on cash on her, she said it was for me to show off my skills as the avatar of greed, I began to play and I won, over and over, I won. In the span of two hours I had made almost triple the money she had gave me, I was on fire guessing the numbers, and hitting the blackjack tables, I wanted to bring it all back home, to tell you about it, to give it to you, but by the time the night was ending she came close to ask me for the money. She said that because she had given me the initial cash all the profit cash was hers as well, I got angry, really angry. I put so much effort into making all that money and I did not get to keep any with me? We argued until she came back with a counteroffer, she said I didn’t need human money where I was from so why not exchange all that money for some grimm? But since she was being so benevolent, I would have to reward her somehow.”</em> He took a small pause to breathe, but you could notice on the breaking of his voice that he was just trying to hold back his cries<em> “That’s when she brought up that I had to spend the night with her to get the grimm. And I knew, I knew it was wrong, I knew I had to say no, but I was so upset, so enraged, I lost control, I don’t know what happened. I just got a little…” “Greedy?”</em> you interrupted. It felt like a stab, a cold, aimed stab to Mammon’s heart. The disappointment in your eyes, the tiredness in your expression, the lack of love in your words. Tears started oozing out, falling onto the brownish skin of his hands. <em>“I’m so sorry”</em> he said as he clenched his jaw, attempting to not break down completely in front of you. You stared, deep in your own sorrow, with tears still leaking out of the corner of your eyes, you watched him bring his hands up to his face, wiping the salty droplets away with his palms, his eyes still fixed on the floor. You wanted nothing more than to run up to him and hug him, and if the situation were different you would most certainly have.<em> “Don’t worry, Mammon. This is not on you”</em> shocking words slipped through your mouth, his head raised in surprise, eyes glimmering with hope, a shine you crushed as you continued to run your mouth<em> “Silly girls up in the human world always claim they can change a broken man, as if the power of love was all they needed for them to stop their sinful ways. In all honestly, I always thought it was bullshit”</em> You paused to swallow down the lump that had formed in your throat <em>“and I was right. I can’t believe I was so blind. What made me believe I was so special to be able to change a demon?”</em> as your heart’s resolution was finally blurted out your whole body couldn’t stand being in the same room as than man, no, as that demon. You did not look back as the door closed behind you. You did not look back even when you heard his ripping, painful screams through the door. You did not look back no matter how much you wanted to.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. May your tears find their way to my river.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After finding out about your boyfriend's little adventure all you care for is drowning your sorrows in booze. Just when you didn't want to see anyone you happen to run into no other than Solomon. Not exactly who you expected to be spending your first night of heartbreak with, but the king of a land should be helpful somehow, right?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This has a bit of world building/character explanation for Solomon. What can I say? i love the kid, sketchy and all. I already had half this chapter ready so I decided to complete it and throw it into the mix!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Life’s jokes tend to be so ironic sometimes, but today it was borderline ridiculous, if being heartbroken was not already infernal, you had gotten your heart crushed literally in hell. If there was something you had learnt back home, mostly from movies and morally questionable acquaintances, is that no matter what sort of pain you felt it could be numbed out by alcohol. Granted, they did mention a couple other R-Rated substances, but a) you had never tried anything stronger than an aspirin, and b) if it were to be any of that in this place, it would most likely be made to affect demons, and you were not looking to actually lose your life tonight. Hell is supposed to be the place you go to <em>after</em> you die, not the place <em>where</em> you die.</p><p>Night life in the Devildom was not much different from the human world’s, school bars were filled with horny youngsters looking to score, arousing chicks playing ball at their advances, and more intoxicated idiots that you could count; actually, you <em>could </em>count them. Seven. It had been seven idiot low-level demons you had had to flick off in the hour and a half you had been sitting on that lonely barstool, you had made a bet to yourself that if you made it to an even ten you would treat yourself to another round of shots. Luckily for you, and the bartender that was already worrying about just how many “blue flame” cocktails you could chug down before throwing up at the bar, tonight eight was your end game number. You were ready to turn around with your meanest looking glare when you sensed a male energy approaching behind you, as if the dark-colored aura you seemed to emit was not enough of a warning to stay away, you were ready to tell off whoever it was, yet a soft mention of your name seemed to snap you out of your venomous attitude; from all the people you had met during your time there, this was the man you’d less expected to run into. “Hey” Solomon said with a smile “Care for some company?” he continued as he <em>did not</em> wait for a reply and proceeded to take the stool next to yours.</p><p>How to describe your relationship with Solomon? It was a sort of give-and-take situation. He gave you a headache and they took you for a weakling. It was an interesting dynamic you and he had, but bottom line was you cared for each other in a non-traditional way. You had chosen this specific bar for a reason: you could be alone with your sorrows. It was the furthest away from the dorms and not necessarily the fanciest, a lower-class where you knew even the party animals of the House of Lamentation wouldn’t care to visit, so chatting it up with your fellow human exchange student was certainly a surprising turn of events, well, chatting is an understatement, you were simply staring with eyes spread and mouth open, as if you couldn’t believe he was there in front of you.</p><p><em>“Hey, hey, now, you don’t have to be like that, you know? Even <strong>I</strong> like to have some fun every now and then, I’m not that much of a prude” </em>a tint of red filled his face as he diverted his gaze, clearly embarrassed by your reaction <em>“  So, I get it that you’re having relationship problems?”</em> he said as if to change the subject. How in the hell did he find out? Was part of his magic powers being able to read minds? Could he have done an aura reading of the sorts and figured out you were in pain? As these thoughts were running through your head you heard him chuckle <em>“No, I’m not a mind reader, silly, and you’re thinking out loud right now.”</em> He smoothly grabbed the cup he had left on top of the counter when he first arrived.</p><p>You shook your head, quickly, and fast, as if just centrifuging your brain was going to make the alcohol, or whatever demon drinks had in them, go away<em>. “I’m sorry, Solomon, I’ve had a couple of these blue things and I’m having trouble processing… well, anything” </em>you finally admitted, followed by a tired sigh <em>“how did you know?”</em> you inquired.</p><p><em>“I’m human too, remember? A woman, alone in a bar, drinking without a care, and scaring off any male entity in existence? That’s universal human language for heartbreak”</em> he plopped his elbow onto the wooden surface in front of him, his body slightly twisted towards you, and his cheek resting on his palm as he stared; he was flushed, you could tell he had been drinking a bit past his limit, or well, could have told if you hadn’t been almost absolutely shitfaced. <em>“You want to spill it out? I’m a tomb, nothing comes out of me”</em></p><p>You squinted your eyes, your own torso turning to face him with curiosity <em>“You only want to have dirt on me, don’t you?”</em> your words came out sharper than intended, luckily he was a bit too tipsy to notice, he laughed it off <em>“Fine, fine, you don’t have to trust me if you don’t want to. I’m just a big believer that emotions are better off on the outside than killing you on the inside.”</em></p><p>It was odd, he, for once, seemed sincere. You were really trying to lay it out gently, a simple ‘things got complicated with Mammon’ or ‘we’re having really tough problems’ was going to do, but the longer you thought about it, the more it hurt, it burned, and in a mix of desperation and pain, thoughtlessly you blurted it out <em>“Mammon cheated on me”. </em>Funny how in a bar full of demons and loud-ass rock music a bit of silence would turn out to be so suffocating. Nothing other than a soft and surprised ‘oh’ had spilled from your friend’s lips; he simply stared at you, eyes wide in surprise, he seemed to have been petrified for what to you felt like forever, finally he moved, but not to you, neither did he say anything, instead he turned to the bartender and asked for two more of whatever you were having before he came along, and that’s how your night out drinking in silence with Solomon begun.</p><p>You didn’t exchange a word for about half an hour, you only drank, one, two, three, you stopped counting the rounds, at some point instead of talking he pointed at strangers doing random things that you, for no reason, found hilarious. It was his idea to head back home after people in the place had begun to scatter; you were barely walking straight, arm around his waist, while his was snaked around your shoulders, it seemed like a very intimate way to take a stroll with someone special. Truth be told there was nothing romantic or special about it, you were both trying not to fall face-first into the ground and leaning on each other seemed like the only logical way to avoid so. Soon you reached the cross path where you were supposed to diverge, one led to the House of Lamentation and the other to Purgatory Hall and the student buildings. <em>“Come on, I’ll walk you home”</em> he said confidently. He believed himself to be a gentleman, a king nonetheless, but as he tried to take a step forward the weight of your unmoving body stopped him. He tilted his head down to look at your face, face you refused to properly show as you shamefully spoke <em>“I don’t want to be there tonight. I’m scared I’ll see him.”</em> Moron, he hadn’t considered that. <em>“I can help you sneak in; I promise you we won’t run into him”</em> he tried to say reassuringly as he held you slightly closer.</p><p>Your free arm moved from your side to his chest, almost clawing into the fabric of his shirt, without you noticing your tears had started to fall. His desperate grip held you up against his chest in a comforting hug; sure, after the news he was aware that this might happen sometime during the night, he was secretly hoping it would happen inside the House of Lamentation so he could try to get support from any of the other brothers, don’t get him wrong though, he cared, but the closer he held you the more he felt that perhaps his arms were not the most appropriate place for you to cry on. <em>“Even if I avoid him today, I’ll still have to see him tomorrow at breakfast.”</em> You shakily replied against the fabric of his clothes <em>“I know what you’ll say, Solomon, eventually I’ll have to face him, as well as the other brothers, and I know it, I know that, but I just ask you, I beg you, to give me one more night, one more night of denial, where I can pretend that if I close my eyes tight enough I’ll wake up in his arms and everything would have been a bad dream.”</em> Your voice was broken, defeated, its sound lacked joy to an extent that Solomon couldn’t help but to bring you in to Purgatory Hall.</p><p>It was not his intention to have you sleep with him, he knows that would look terrible for both of you, but neither Simeon nor Luke seemed to wake up from their deep slumber despite his very loud attempts to call for their attention. You were still in his arms, clinging to his torso as he held you by the shoulders and kindly guided you through the unknown corridors, he looked as though he wanted to hide a wounded puppy he picked up off the street, but at last, you arrived to his room. It was not as clean as Simeon and Luke’s, a few items were misplaced, and books were scattered onto every surface, but the floor seemed neat and the bed was properly made. <em>“You can take my bed, I’ll crash on the couch”</em> he mentioned as soon as he locked the door behind you, however the tight grip he suddenly felt on his middle body gave him the idea that you didn’t want to be left alone, he sighed in defeat, he was so concerned about you he would have fought Diavolo himself if you were to say that’d make you smile; you crawled onto the bed and he flopped on right next to you, the time you were apart from him was not much as your, still drunken, arms searched for his comfort once he had settled himself on the bed. You cuddled him as close as you could and raised your head to have a look at him. His pale skin was colored a deep red, it contrasted really well with his also colorless hair, his expression was tender yet serious, and if you squinted your eyes a little bit you could have sworn he looked just like Mammon. <em>“What?”</em> the sound of his voice snapped you out of your delusion “You’ve been staring for a bit. Is my face that bad now?” he joked without returning your gaze, you were thankful for such disposition <em>“I mean, you do look like the mascot for a canned tomato soup brand”</em> you teased back, earning a couple of giggles to join your own before you continued to speak <em>“but really, I was thinking that I’m very thankful for today, and that you’re taking care of me like this. I promise I’ll pay you back, somehow, but if you don’t mind me asking, what are you really doing this for? I care about you, too, but I just never pictured you as a taking-care-of-someone-drunk-off-their-ass kind of friend, specially for someone who your relationship with them could be reduced to a simple classmates type.” </em>Your eyes were fixed on him, and you could take in the way every muscle on his face seemed to tense up, his lips pursed, eyebrows furrowed together, the way his chest raised up when he took in enough breath to calm down his nerves, he exhaled and for the first time since you had arrived to Purgatory Hall he finally looked back at you <em>“Because I would have liked a pair of arms to cry in when I went through that pain”</em> he said in a solemn tone, but you see in the glimmer of his eyes, or mostly the lack of thereof, that he felt desolate <em>“My father died when I was fifteen, and as my mother refused to remarry the king’s advisor took the throne as acting king. My mother didn’t quite agree with him, and so insisted I took back the leadership when I turned of age. Rules had it that a king could not reign unless having married before the eyes of god. I got married three months after my birthday, but I swear to God, three months was all I needed. She was fantastic, loving, firm but just, funny, I was head over heels.” </em>His expression had lit up a little, but the memories were too painful to bear a happy face, even joyful ones seemed so distant it brought a bitter feeling to his chest <em>“You can probably guess how the tale ends. Even after I found out, I had to remain married to her, it was not for the rest of the royal family to know, or else both our names would fall in disgrace and it could unleash terrible political consequences. Every day was utter hell, ironically enough, my agony was so great I spent most of my free time caged in my studio practicing my magic, and one day that’s how it happened, I accidentally summoned Asmodeus up to the human world.” He paused yet again, this time he used the hand that wasn’t around your shoulders to cup your cheek, thumb brushing gently against the skin covering your cheekbone “Pain is a really strong motive. Demons use it to create chaos, angels use it to form peace, yet both without a choice to do the other. What makes us humans so marvelous and puzzling in their eyes is the fact that we are free to use our pain as we will. The only advice I can give you is to think carefully what you’ll do with your suffering and be ready to face the consequences of your decisions, whatever they might be.”</em> As he finished talking his hand slid to the back of your head and pulled it forward to let you rest it over his chest, his fingers massaging your scalp soothingly; after a few seconds of silence you were sure he wasn’t going to go on with the story, but the position you were in along with the warmth of his body and security of his embrace, let’s not forget your high levels of alcohol also, were edging you to unconsciousness <em>“Solomon, even if I wish nothing but happiness for you to come, if you ever find yourself in pain again, may my arms turn to vases you can pour your tears into”</em> you managed to babble before drifting off fast asleep against his body.</p><p>He would never tell you about how he could only fall asleep when his cheek rested against your head, nor would he tell you about how he held you closer whenever your body started to tremble while you sobbed in your slumber, the shame would never allow him to mention that, for once in a very long time, he felt at peace. No, you wouldn’t hear a word about it, about how if he squinted his eyes a little bit he could have sworn you looked a little like his former queen, about how he treated himself to one last night of denial, where he could pretend that if he closed his eyes tight enough, he’d wake up with her in his arms and everything would have been just a bad dream.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The first part received such good feedback in such short time, I'm really thankful! Next chapter will take a little longer since this one as already started but the new one will come off completely new, this one was a bit of a tangent for what the original story is and will turn into, but I was hoping to all give Solomon a bit of depth as a character. Sorrows are always better when shared with friends, never forget that. I'm still not sure if MC/Solomon could develop something romantic, but I felt like this sort of problem only he could fully understand what it was like. Next chapter will already go to Mammon and the other brothers! Please look forward to it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Tales of regret</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After your first night as a single woman you come to learn that getting drunk while heartbroken is a path filled with regrets. Simeon helps you through your hangover, and Lucifer confronts you about your behavior. Mammon for the first time thinks about what he did, and how to fix it.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Random headcanon: Luke and Simeon where actually chosen for the program because they were Solomon's and MC's assigned guardian angels. Man, sometimes I hate Lucifer, sometimes I absolutely adore him.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back in the human world, the universal debate among young adults has always been which type of hangover is worse. The one caused by tequila? or the one caused by vodka? Well, you’d found the answer during your little trip to the depths of hell. The hangovers you had had up to now seemed like a mere sneeze compared to what devildom alcohol had caused to you. Dry mouth now sounded like a delicious treat in comparison to the raging flame that seemed to emerge from the back of your throat, eyes bulgy, head heavier than a cement block and yet so light it made you dizzy every inch you moved. Your pupils searched for the alarm clock on your room’s night table, only for them to realize it was not there, or more precisely <strong><em>you</em></strong> weren’t there. You hugged the sheets of the bed, that wasn’t yours either, to your chest and blinked repeatedly, trying to give yourself a bit of a reality check; you weren’t exactly sure where you were, since you had never been in Solomon’s room before, but the magic-related books and a couple of pictures with familiar landscapes laying on the desk in front of you had given you a hint.</p><p><em>“Good morning, sunshine”</em> a voice coming from the front door startled you, and it’s safe to say it was mostly due to it not being whose you were expecting. Simeon’s figure appeared before you as he pushed the door open with his right heel, entering the room butt-first with a wooden tray on his hands. He approached your side and took a seat at the border of the bed. He looked as radiant as any other day, his smile bright like the summer sun. <em>“I’m glad to see you’ve got some stamina, after last night I had a slight feeling you might actually perish, but before we talk any further, eat up and drink this”</em> he pointed to a purplish, and a bit sparkly, liquid laying in what seemed like a shot glass. It sure as hell looked sketchy, but what would an angel want to scam you for? You chugged it down in a flash without hesitation. <em>“Hey, Simeon, what was that?”</em> you asked as your face scrunched up in disgust. It looked like Kool aid and tasted like wet dirt. <em>“A potion.”</em> He said with a slight chuckle that your reaction had gotten out of him <em>“Courtesy of Solomon, knight in shining armor. A little something he brew after he went drinking with Asmodeus when we first arrived, demonus can take quite a toll on the human body when drank excessively, it’s just a little help to numb the negative effects while your body detoxes on its own. Now, you want to talk about what’s putting you through that much pain?”</em> he continued. You had absentmindedly begun to prick at your food, it looked fantastic, a couple fried eggs with a side of rice, surely not cooked by Solomon.</p><p>It took you a couple of seconds to let Simeon’s words sink in, luckily the anti-hangover potion was starting to take effect; your eyes opened wide and you could feel the heat elevating through your neck all the way to your ears. <em>“How did you know? Did Solomon tell you?”</em> you asked with a little bit of embarrassment. <em>“He didn’t. He just asked me as a favor to skip the first period’s class to look after you. However, as you are aware, angels and humans share a very special protector-protege relationship, some bonds are tighter than others. Yours and mine just happens to be one of those. Whenever you are in pain, severe pain, or imminent danger, I get a sharp pulse in my veins. The only two times I’ve felt it have been that one time you were ten years old and a car ran a stop sign while you were on your bike, and the second time was yesterday. Unfortunately, Angel powers do not include mind reading, therefore I depend on you to tell me what’s wrong, but of course if you don’t need my help you can always keep to yourself.</em>” His words were earnest and kind, and a force within you seemed to beg you to tell him; but you were not ready, not just yet.</p><p>On the other side of campus breakfast had occurred as most as lively as usual. Beel euphorically inhaling every inch of food in sight, Satan going through the notes of his homework while sipping on earl-grey tea, Asmo making his best to avoid being sprinkled with food remains from Beel, Belphegor nowhere to be seen, and Leviathan eating as he tried his best to keep his eyes open.</p><p><em>“Mammon is late.”</em> Lucifer grumbled out of the sudden. <em>“I checked on him before coming down, he’s not going today.”</em> Satan answered without taking his sight away from his notebook. His words nonetheless had irritated the eldest. <em>“He can’t be so childish to simply skip class when he’s feeling the least of sadness.” </em>Lucifer’s eyes seemed resolute, he intended to head to Mammon’s room and pull him by the ears, if that’s what it took to get him to attend to his schedule, until Asmodeus spoke up. <em>“Cut him some slack, Lucifer. Last night’s was a big fight. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think they are together anymore. For her to not come back during the whole night, I don’t know what he did but it was surely bad.”</em> As he spoke, his older brother had decided to set himself back down on his seat. <em>“He was crying all night.”</em> Levi added <em>“I don’t mean to sound like I care, but his cries were heart-ripping. I almost felt sorry for him.”</em> The flesh between of Lucifer’s brows was wrinkled up, he was clearly concerned, not entirely for Mammon, though, your state of mind was also in the back of his. The five brothers didn’t voice it out, but the absence of you two had weighed heavily on their hearts that morning, as if something was not right without their brother’s loud complains that were always followed by a cheerful laugh, or the way you would get in the middle of him and Lucifer when the scolding begun.  </p><p>Back in Purgatory Hall your talk with Simeon had to be cut short. You had turned on your D.D.D. for the first time in around twelve hours, and man, when it came to keeping track of your whereabouts the brothers were sure to never disappoint. As soon as signal got back to the device it started to vibrate like crazy, you could have sworn it was seconds away from imploding onto your hand. Your eyes first focused on your ex boyfriend’s last message.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>[2:35am] The asshole:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> I just hope you are safe. I’ll leave you alone. I love you. </em>
</p><p>You quickly diverted your gaze, you sure as hell didn’t remember changing his name to <em>that</em>, although, for the time being, it seemed fitting. The bubble hovering next to his text’s preview showed the number 40, you were tempted to click on it, curiosity chewing at the pit of your stomach to know what those forty messages had to say, that you hadn’t heard already, but a bubble with an even higher number stole your attention before you could start spiraling into your thoughts any further. Lucifer’s conversation had a hundred and seven unread texts. That’s the way you knew you had really done it this time. You didn’t bother reading the first hundred, although as you scrolled you could see most of them just read “<em>Answer me as soon as you can</em>.”, but for sure the last four had chills jolting down your spine.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>[8:30am] Lucifer:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> I see you, too, decided not to attend class today. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>[8:30am] Lucifer:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> You’re an exchange student, education is not to be taken lightly by you. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>[8:31am] Lucifer:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> You will come to my office the second you arrive at RAD. No excuses. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>[9:00am] Lucifer:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> If you do not come to your second period class there will be consequences. </em>
</p><p>It was 9:45 am when you read that text, and the second period started at 10. Never in your life had you moved so fast, nor ran so euphorically. You managed to arrive in time, between pants and moans, at the front door of Lucifer’s office. You weren’t totally sure when you had lost Simeon on the way, but as you stood before what felt like your casket, he was nowhere around. You knocked and remained nervously waiting for him to open. He finally appeared behind the door, eyes baggy with a tint of purple underneath, brows furrowed together and a stare that at first shined with anger; he asked you to come in and you obeyed. You already knew the drill, you had been in there a thousand times before thanks to Mammon, you had to sit on one of the guest chairs, head down and apologetic, and wait for him to go off about how irresponsible you were, how disappointed you made him, and how he expected you to never do it again.</p><p><em>“What you did last night can’t happen again.”</em> He said with a firm stare as soon as he took his seat right in front of you. <em>“You and Solomon.”</em> He added. You remained stiff on your seat, eyes staring astonished in his direction, your lips parted slowly as you tried to process what he had just said. <em>“What?”</em> was the only, not so eloquent, answer you managed to form. “<em>I saw you two last night. After you didn’t show up at curfew, and not even hours later, I decided to go out in search for you. I was not very amused when I saw you stumbling towards Purgatory Hall in his arms, hopefully drunk, as I’d like to believe you wouldn’t be so disrespectful to your relationship with my brother that you’d spend the night in another man’s room without being intoxicated. Even if he does it on his own, we cannot have you going around making a fool out of Mammon. He is a respected demon, after all, and his image shall remain as such.”</em></p><p>Lucifer was a man of many charms and talents, one of his talents specifically was worrying about the wrong things, at the wrong time, and wording them in the worst way. Needless to say your head had once again begun to pound, not because of your hangover, this time it was your rage filling up your every vein on it; your fists curled up and your mind went almost blank. <em>“That’s all you care about? His image?” </em>you grumbled as you stood up, your tone raising as you kept speaking “<em>You demons seriously don’t change. Going around using anyone you want to your will, excusing yourselves with your own nature, expecting us all to overlook our pain out of fear of making you our enemies, or simply because you have the power to. Not that it is any of your business, but Solomon was nothing but a great friend to me last night. He listened to my troubles and offered a shoulder to cry on, whilst you, who has claimed to think of me as family, have only judged me, not bothering to think that perhaps the reason I slept out was because I didn’t want to spend the night in a place where I could run into the man that broke my heart at any given second, you’re judging me without giving me the benefit of the doubt, instead of asking me if I’m even okay!”</em> your last sentence came out as a mere cry. The desperation had gotten to you by surprise, and your tears began to roll down without warning; still you didn’t budge. Your eyes were fixed on him, you watched his figure stand up and circle around his desk until it was standing in front of you. Your sight locked with his, but instead of that prideful, icy stare that he used to wear, you were facing a pair of soulless eyes that seemed to scream all the apologies he couldn’t say out loud. You didn’t get to look at them much, though, in a blink his arms had surrounded you, a hand behind your head that kept it firm against his chest, and the other around your back securing you against him. <em>“I went out last night because I was concerned something had happened to you. I knew you and Mammon had fought, and after I saw you with Solomon, I was afraid you would do something stupid, not only that would hurt your relationship with my brother, but also that you would come to regret. I truly care for you, but you can’t blame me for looking after my little brother. It is hard to pick a side, it is hard to help any of you if I don’t know what’s going on, but you must know I have never lied about the affection I have for you, I care as much as I care for any of my siblings; so if you need me right now, I’m here. I might not be human, but this chest of mine is yours to pour as many tears as you want, for as long as you need.” </em>His voice was resolute but gentle, and most importantly sincere.</p><p>On the other side of the ebony door, on the corridor, three nervous men rested their backs against the wall as they waited for you to come out, feet tapping repeatedly on the floor as they nervously exchanged stares. <em>“Do you think he’s going hard on her?”</em> Solomon asked in Simeon’s direction. <em>“Lucifer can be stern, but he’s also a worrywart. I’m pretty sure he was more concerned about her safety than the attendance situation.”</em> Even with such a truth-filled reply, Solomon kept fidgeting the badge of his uniform. He blamed himself a little bit for letting you sleep in, but in his defense, you had tried to kick him when he attempted to wake you up. <em>“Stop that, Solomon, the rustling of your chain is making me irk”</em> Luke whined in discomfort. After almost an hour of Mammon-bashing in his office, you were finally ready to go back out, just in time for lunch. Lucifer’s eyes locked with Solomon’s as he walked out after you, it was a brief exchange but intense enough to have Solomon speechless, it reminded you of the stare your father had given your first boyfriend the one time he visited; shortly enough Lucifer excused himself, claiming to have some business to attend, and left the four of you.</p><p><em>“How are you feeling?”</em> Simeon asked as soon as the demon’s overly trained ears were out of reach. <em>“Better. I think. I really did open up to him, he knows it’s over between me and Mammon now, and he agreed to talk it over with the other brothers so they don’t start smothering me with questions. He also agreed to let me stay a couple days in Purgatory Hall, just until I’m able to face him without breaking down.”</em> You answered. Your nose was still reddish from crying, detail that didn’t go unnoticed by your newfound best friend, Solomon took his personal handkerchief from his pants pocket and handed it over, you took it without paying much attention and used it to wipe your nose <em>“You told him everything?”</em> he asked curiously. <em>“Well, not everything, everything. I omitted a couple things that he didn’t need to know, but in general I told him how betrayed I felt, and how I really can’t be around Mammon at the moment.”</em> The three of them seemed satisfied by your answer. <em>“Just gotta say, I think it’s weird you would open up to a demon instead of two angels”</em> Luke snickered. The four of you let out a chuckle and the conversation moved on to how you were dealing with the hangover and some of the memories about last night’s little two people party.</p><p>You weren’t aware that, from the other side of the garden that sided with the corridor, someone was paying special attention to the lively exchange. Mammon had gotten up a little after the second period had started. It was not his intention to go to class, but a sudden idea made him change his mind. If he wanted to talk to you, it was very likely you would be at RAD; he knew you barely missed classes, and that you went to the bathroom near Lucifer’s office after every second period class without exception. He was hoping to catch you there before you headed for lunch, usually joined by Beel or Satan, and instead he had found such a cheerful image, an image he was dreading with every inch of his body. You were laughing, unbothered, as if nothing had happened the night before; but if he was being honest, that was not the part that had started to make little yellow flames emerge out from his pores, no, it was the way Solomon was playfully pushing on your shoulder, the way he didn’t take his eyes off you even when someone else was talking, the way he at some point cupped your cheeks, even when that had no romantic meaning, as he was simply checking that you were not having secondary effects from the potion he had made. It was that intimacy that was not there before last night, and magically appeared after the one time you didn’t sleep home, what was driving his imagination crazy, thus, driving <em>him</em> crazy with jealousy. He was about to do something, he wasn’t sure what though, when he felt a pull on the collar of his shirt that dragged him back. “<em>Should you be causing such a ridiculous jealousy scene after what you did to that poor girl?</em>” Mammon turned around, terrified, after realizing those words had come out of Lucifer. His brother was standing before him, arms crossed, and face twisted into a big frown. “<em>S-She told you?”</em> Mammon struggled to say out his words. <em>“She did. I have to say, I am disappointed.” </em>The white-haired boy dropped his head in shame as he listened<em> “I just thought you had outgrown something like that. Stealing your girlfriend’s stuff to sell them? That’s low even for you, Mammon. Although, I don’t think it’s unfixable, but you have to leave her alone for now, her trust in you is really shaken, you have to let her cool down before you talk to her. So, be a man and just go back home. I’ll justify your absences for today.”</em> and without expecting an answer Lucifer began heading his own way again.</p><p>Mammon simply stood in shock. <em>“Stealing your girlfriend’s stuff to sell them?”</em> did those words mean you didn’t tell him about what truly happened? His way back home was surely dreadful. He felt tired all of a sudden, exhausted even, with his heart seeming heavier at every step he took. He kept replaying his brother’s words in his head. Why didn’t you tell him about his mistake? His <em>real</em> mistake. Why lie to him with something that just seemed so in character for him? It’s not that it was going to affect the way his brothers saw him. They already thought he was scum anyways, statement which he now felt the need to agree with. As he finally reached his room, he threw himself onto his bed, just staring at the empty, white ceiling hovering over him. He closed his eyes. He kept thinking, over and over, did you do it out of love? Probably. The thought filled him with a flashy joy that quickly turned into sadness. It was nice to feel you still loved him, but it was killing him to know that at this point, that didn’t really matter anymore. The answer seemed very clear now, you did it because you are you, merciful, kind, lovely you. He knows his brothers love you. He knows they would probably take your side. That was it, wasn’t it? Even after all the pain he put you through, you still didn’t want him to feel forsaken. You didn’t want him to lose his family. He got to keep the love and support of his brothers at the expense of you suffering in silence, everything would go smoother for him if no one knew about his affair. It made sense. It was perfect for him, but he knew, as he knew you better than anyone, that it would be hell for you. What a selfish, greedy solution to accept. Wasn’t that just what had you dumping him in a blink? The greed. The uncontrollable greed. He decided right then and there that change had to fall upon him if he was even going to try getting you back, and so he started making a mental list of all the things he had to fix about himself in order to do so.</p><p>Using his brain so much for once had caused him to pass out without realizing. He woke up just after dinner time. He couldn’t remember anything from the list, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out the number one thing he needed to change: he had to start being honest to his older brother. In the heat of the moment he darted out of his room with a heavy pace, walking the corridors of the House of Lamentation in search of his brother’s room, once he had reached his destination he banged loudly on the door, his whole fist slamming against the wood. Lucifer appeared shortly after the noise stopped; a bit agitated as he had thought it might be an emergency.</p><p><em>“What is it, Mammon?”</em> he said with a disappointed tone. <em>“Can I come in?”</em> the youngest almost muttered. There was disbelief on Lucifer’s face as he looked at his younger sibling nervously step from side to side<em>. “Is this another one of your schemes?” </em>he blurted out coldly<em>. “WHY DO YOU GUYS ALWAYS THINK—”</em> Mammon stopped his yelling as he remembered a random point on the list: Stop yelling at my brothers without a real reason<em>. “It’s not. I-, uh, I really need to talk to you, Lucifer”</em> he dared to look up into the man’s eyes, whom after a few seconds of questioning his own sanity allowed him to enter the room.</p><p>There was a bit of an awkward silence as both of them stood before each other. It had begun to feel heavy on the atmosphere, and so Lucifer decided to speak. <em>“Listen, it’s getting late, so if this is not important, let’s just—”</em> <em>“I didn’t steal anything from her”</em> Mammon cut his brother’s speech short. “<em>Huh?”</em> the eldest answered, a bit confused about the statement. Lucifer was attempting to speak, but Mammon once again interrupted his train of thought. <em>“I’m trying to be an honest person now, and the first step to it is coming out clean about what I really did. Truth is she lied to you to protect me. I didn’t steal anything from her.”</em> He made a small pause to catch his breath. His heart seemed to pound ten times faster than he had ever felt it before. It was the first time he was going to acknowledge what he did, no excuses, no sugarcoating; it was painful to face it, small droplets accumulated at the corners of his eyes, and his voice turned shaky, in the verge of breaking.</p><p>
  <em>“I cheated on her.” </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>this was fun to write. I'm still torn whether to have Solomon and MC have something romantic or just working my way through her and Mammon fixing their relationship.  If you have an opinion of what you'd like let me know!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Consequences</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>His bravery cost him a bit more than he had anticipated, you get called into the house of lamentation by the brothers in search for help to deal with Mammon. Simeon is concerned with how much pain the whole situation is causing you, so he shares a bit of divine wisdom to help you ease the pain.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>will I ever have an actual posting schedule? probably not. I am a fast food chain sort of writer, if it's done, it's posted. A lot of people commented on how they would like MC's love life to end. I may or may not have already decided :) Hopefully this chapter will ruffle a couple of feathers. Get the tissues ready!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Remember that question career advisors always used to make? <strong><em>“Where do you see yourself in five years?”</em></strong> Yeah. That annoying one. Well, if you ever answered <strong><em>“I’ll be in hell with two angels, playing dress up, and putting on face masks, trying to forget about my cheating demon ex-boyfriend”</em></strong> you were completely right. Girl’s night had been Luke’s idea, he suggested it after you spent all lunch time sighing, deep in your thoughts, and avoiding saying anything that involved Mammon; also he had been watching FRIENDS during his free time the night before, and had gotten the idea that a night in with delicious treats was a great way to fix heartbroken humans. Truth be told, he was sort of right.  </p><p>The three of you were laying on the floor of their room, pillows scattered everywhere, feet recently scrubbed, and facemasks on. Solomon had taken a raincheck on it, claiming to have somewhere to be, so tonight it was only you and two divine entities pretending to be your girlfriends. Sadly, things in the Devildom were never as easy as simply moisturizing your problems away. Your D.D.D. started ringing in the middle of your beauty session. You were a little nervous, hoping it was not Mammon looking for you again, you knew him better than anyone, and for that reason you were aware of how relentless he could be. You peeked at the screen with a bit of fear bubbling at the pit of your stomach.</p><p>
  <em>Incoming call… Leviathan </em>
</p><p>Thank God. You were still, in a way, avoiding the brothers, but you certainly missed them, god how you missed them. Of course you loved your other friends, and you were glad to be growing closer to them, especially during hard times, however there was just something about the chaotic energy of  demons that made you excited, that filled you with bursting joy every time you were around them. Eager to hear his voice again you brought the phone up to your ear, a smile adorning your face as you pressed the answer button<em>. “Hey, Levi, what’s up?”</em> you took the lead to start talking when the line connected.</p><p><em>“I’m sorry to bother you with this.” </em>he answered, his tone seeming apologetic, almost as if he had been crying. <em>“He’s… okay now, but we all think you should come over, and even if you don’t, we thought you should know.”</em> His words had started to weigh on you, literally, your chest was getting tighter, your voice shakier, and your imagination out of control <em>“You’re scaring me, just tell me what happened already.”</em> You answered, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes. He took a second, he was just thinking how to lay it down for you without sounding too harsh. <em>“Mammon and Lucifer got into a fight. It was really bad. Beel pulled them apart but by the time he did, Mammon was already too hurt.” </em></p><p>You felt every organ inside you drop to the ground. The grip on your phone was hurting your joints, you didn’t realize the way you were clawing onto it, nervous as hell, trying to find a way to clear out your biggest doubt. It took all your courage to enunciate your following question. <em>“Is he alive?”</em> your tears had already begun to fall, the two angels beside you stared with concerned looks on their faces. <em>“Ah yes! Sorry! I think I phrased everything badly, he’s alive, he’s not awake though, he was knocked out and his wounds are severe, but he’s not in danger.</em>” Good lord. You knew Levi had a thing for the dramatic, but this was getting ridiculous. You dropped your face onto your free palm and rubbed the salty droplets away, sure, it was not better, but seconds ago you had thought the man you loved was dead, so knowing that he was only badly beaten seemed almost a gift from heaven. <em>“I’m heading over right now. Is it alright if Simeon and Luke come with me?”</em> your breath had evened, and your voice seemed steadier as you spoke <em>“Sure. Simeon could actually be helpful, as he knows healing spells. We actually wanted him to take a look at Mammon, see what he can do” </em>He replied. You sighed into the speaker and nodded to yourself, making sure you were indeed okay, or calm at least<em>. “Alright. Thank you for calling me. See you in a bit”</em> you hung up. You exchanged hopeful looks at the two men next to you, expecting them to, somehow, just agree to help the guy that had had you so depressed lately. You were thankful, endlessly thankful, for the smile Simeon offered to you, and for the way that he, without a word, helped you up to get on your way back home.</p><p>You were swept off your feet the second you arrived to the House of Lamentation, and that was not figure of speech, Beelzebub was waiting by the door, and he just couldn’t help himself when he saw you. His strong embrace was so warm and familiar, it felt like too long had passed since the last time you’d enjoyed one of his teddy bear hugs. He was burying his face into the crook of your neck, and you could hear a sob muffled against your skin, making you panic instantly; you pulled away and cupped his cheeks between your hands to make him face you. <em>“I’m sorry I didn’t get to them sooner.”</em> He said in between sniffles. <em>“Oh, no, no. Beel, don’t apologize. You did what you could and I’m very thankful.”</em> You muttered. Your fingers running against his skin to soothe him down. He nodded his head in response and removed his arms to set you free.</p><p><em>“He’s laying down in his room, but he’s not awake yet.”</em> Satan’s voice caused you switch your attention. He was as composed as always, yet the messiness of his hair told you he was probably equally shaken<em>. “Where’s Lucifer?”</em> you asked. <em>“Belphie and Asmo took him to the castle. He’s staying with Diavolo for the night.”</em> He answered with his usual unbothered and calm demeanor. He had taken a couple of steps towards you, and you, too, met him in the middle. His hand reached over to land on top of your hair, gently ruffling it as he offered a vague, tired smile. <em>“Not that you would get lost if I didn’t, but let me walk you to Mammon’s room.”</em> You agreed to his offering with a smile of your own. Simeon and Luke tagged along, silently walking past the happy portraits of the brothers that decorated the halls. You were dying inside; the mixed emotions were consuming you further with every step. You were filled with questions. What had happened to make Lucifer <em>that</em> mad? Was there an explanation to his rage? Even so, he would never physically abuse his brothers, at least not to <em>this</em> extent. Besides your fight-related concerns you had a couple of personal worries of your own, you had not seen Mammon after your big fight, and that was making you shake in your boots. No matter how awful was what he did, it’s not like you could just stop loving him over night. You still cared deeply for him. You were still <em>weak</em> when it came to him.</p><p>You stood before the door of his room, a room you had been in so many times, and that now seemed so foreign, almost new. The three people next to you could easily feel your hesitation. They exchanged looks and finally you felt a familiar hand on your shoulder. <em>“Why don’t you let me and Luke go in first? That way I can evaluate his condition to get an idea of what spells or potions to use on him.”</em> Simeon stroked your shoulder kindly as he spoke. You agreed, and Satan decided to stay behind to keep you company as well. He wouldn’t say it but seeing his brother in that state was not exactly a Christmas morning-like experience, neither something he wanted to go through alone. <em>“What happened this time? What got him in so much trouble?”</em> you spurted out to break the icy silence that had formed around you two. Satan was basically choked up by your question, he diverted his gaze, you could see how doubtful he felt, even a little ashamed as his cheeks were painted a faint red. <em>“We know.”</em> He was almost muttering. <em>“About you, and Mammon, and the real reason you guys broke up.”</em> Shame had now taken over <em>you</em> instead, you threw your head back, your right hand pinching the bridge of your nose with your eyes shut tight. <em>“I didn’t want you guys to find out. How did Lucifer?”</em> you sighed into your hand that had pressed against your mouth to keep yourself from crying. <em>“We’re not sure. All we know is that he confronted him about it, things escalated, next thing we know Beel had to get in between them and Mammon was already badly hurt. It even looked like he wasn’t putting up a fight.”</em> He made a pause. He wanted to take a moment to look into your eyes, he wanted you to feel his frustration, to truly understand his words <em>“What he did was wrong, there’s no way to refute that. We’re here for whatever you need, and even when we want you back home, we can understand if you want your space for now, but I must tell you that I discussed it with my brothers, and we’ve come to the agreement that we’re staying out of it. Not your side, nor his. I hope this is not an inconvenient for our friendship, we adore you, and we want to keep you by our side, but we can’t just go ahead and forsake our older brother. We cannot get on our moral high horse, not when he’s been there when we’ve needed him, too, no matter how awful the deed we’d done.”</em> His words had touched you to the point of tears, you hated how all you seemed to do recently was cry, but no one blamed you, on the contrary, they were willing to lend you a shoulder, all of them, who you before thought as mere demons, generators of chaos, portraits of evil, had become your best friends, your biggest supporters. You held one of his hands into yours and breathed in to calm down your voice. <em>“That’s all I wanted. Thank you. All of you.” </em>You struggled to get your words out, but the light squeeze on your fingers was for sure helping you ease down. Satan made a motion with his free hand, indicating that it was finally time for you to go in.</p><p>You braced yourself for what you were about to see, but truth was nothing was truly going to prepare you for it. You entered the room and instantly your cries were caught in your throat. Mammon was laying down on his bed, you could barely notice the tanned skin from the bruises on his cheeks, the eyebrows had still open wounds on it, all of them of a considerable size. He didn’t have a shirt on; therefore, you could clearly see bigger purple circles on the area of his ribs. You approached the bed, Luke helped you drag a chair along for you to take a seat, you did, your hands automatically made their way towards the white-haired boy’s, you held the one closest to you between your fingers, he felt cold. The fear instantly conquered your face, and Simeon took notice in no time<em>. “He’s alright.” </em>He said in attempt to calm you down <em>“He’ll be sore for a while, but he’s not in danger. He should be up and about in a couple of days, and I’ll be here to make sure everything goes smoothly.”</em> He shot the brightest, kindest smile in your direction, he was standing next to the other side of the bed, staring at you intently before continuing his speech. <em>“However, I also care about your well-being.” </em>You quickly shook your head at his words. <em>“Don’t. I’m perfectly fine. Let’s just focus on him getting better.”</em> You answered quickly, and it caused him to let out a vague chuckle. <em>“That’s not how it works. You can’t just lie to an angel. The sharp pain in my veins, remember? It got worse after the phone call, and since you got into this room, it’s done nothing but to grow stronger.” </em></p><p>You stared in awe, you really ignored just how strong your bond with Simeon was, how powerful of an angel he probably was. Your tears, yet again, began to roll down, but this time there was no controlling them, no stopping them. You had been wanting to break down the instant you watched that video, and now was the perfect time to completely lose it. <em>“Why can’t I just not care, Simeon? Why do I need to be here, worried sick, about the demon that tore my heart to pieces? Couldn’t I have just woken up yesterday with a lot of regrets and none of the love? I want to hate him, and maybe I do, a little bit, but this hatred it’s greatly outweighed by how much I love him, how much I care about him, and how much I miss him beside me. I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. But everything was so perfect, sure, we fought, we cried, we got mad at each other, but that was just normal couple stuff, other than that everything was so fun, he was my best friend, he still is, and I love him with everything I’ve got. Why did he have to sleep with that fucking witch? Why did he throw away our relationship for four thousand grimm? Could he really not see how it was going to break us?”</em> your words were piercing, and your voice was broken, but your hands kept clinging onto Mammon’s. It enraged you to remember the betrayal, but what angered you the most was the fact that saying all that out loud, reminding yourself of all the good things, and thinking that you could have lost it all that night, just made the idea of forgiving him more attractive.</p><p>Simeon listened carefully, he had moved from his original place and instead stood before you. Luke took a seat on the couch next to the billiards table, a bit uncomfortable by the nature of the conversation. Simeon placed his sight on Mammon instead, he took a couple of seconds, seemingly lost in thought. You were even worried you were going to get scolded until he spoke up, his voice as soothing as before. <em>“Did he ever tell you about his time in the Celestial Realm?”</em> he asked turning back to look at you. <em>“No. He’s never even mentioned the Celestial Realm.”</em> You answered honestly. <em>“I figured so. I can’t blame them, though, the war was hard on all of us, but specially on them.” </em>He took a second to seat himself down onto the bed, careful to not move Mammon’s body at all. <em>“They didn’t become demons overnight, you know? They were once the most powerful amongst the angels, beloved by humans. Mammon, specifically, was the most giving, uninterested, and selfless angel of them all. Angels are made of divine energy, and as such that energy can run out, or fade, if it’s overspent; most angels have their hands full with the guardian duty, therefore all their energy focuses on that, Luke is a good example of such; but older, more powerful angels often have energy to spare, and they put it on helping humans, regardless if they are their guardians or not. Mammon was one of them. He had a special fixation on a village, a family, to be more precise. The father raised the cattle that fed the entire town. One day, while he was on guardian duty, unaware of the situation of his beloved humans, a couple of burglars stole most of the cows. The cattle were insufficient to feed the village, so they prayed for a miracle, and Mammon conceded it. He gave them enough cattle to feast for a month; but when they thanked the heavens, they thanked our father, Mammon’s name not even present on their minds. He thought it might be an honest mistake, but miracle after miracle, they kept thanking the Lord instead of him.” </em>He made a pause to sigh.<em> “He broke a rule and manifested before the farmers. He told them about how he was the reason for their vast food and promised them if they were to thank <strong>him</strong> from then on, they would never lack cattle. Shortly after that, he realized they were asking for him more often, and he was gladly fulfilling their needs, every single time they asked for his help, it eventually exhausted him, he went down once again to find out another way to help them, only to realize the real reason behind the cow shortage was that they were selling the extra cattle solely to accumulate wealth. He felt so used, and betrayed, that he cursed the meat they consumed, and illness fell upon the village. Instead of blaming it on the greed of the farmers, the peasants burned down every shrine, image, and statue of Mammon, they passed on the news that a fake angel was trying to lure humans onto a path of sin. His name as an angel was turned into ashes, and so was his reputation. Word got to the ears of our father, he told Mammon he deserved such treatment as punishment, since wanting his name to be recognized over his was as greedy as the farmers’ actions, he was bound to be forgotten by every person whose life he ever touched, and to be remembered from then on as a fake angel who lured humans into sin. Therefore, for him, it became clear The Lord would never understand the betrayal, the way they used him, nor the pain he felt. After that, he mostly complied until Lucifer started the war, and then he joined his brother on his fight.” </em>You had unconsciously begun to stroke the back of Mammon’s hand as you listened to Simeon’s story, your cheeks moist with tears, nose a bit runny, and breath uneven from the hiccupping. <em>“Is that the reason why he’s so insecure? Why he needs to make sure he’s properly appreciated?”</em> you asked nervously. <em>“I’d say one of them. Falling from grace means certain aspects of yourself are not entirely up to your control, hence why sometimes the brothers are unable to fight back the needs caused by their sins.”</em> He responded firmly.</p><p><em>“He’s still many of those good things you mentioned before, though. He is not a bad guy, I know that. He is passionate, and fun, and giving when he really cares.” </em>Your words managed to draw a smile on Simeon’s face, but in fact, he was just mimicking the one that had appeared on yours. Such a gentle smile, one that was not common sight in the Devildom. <em>“Well, you know what they say. A flower by any other name would smell as sweet.”</em> His eyes were fixed on the boy laying before him. There was a warmth that surrounded the three of you, like a little bubble filled with forgiveness and mercy; bubble that was quickly burst by Luke’s sharp words. <em>“Yeah, but a demon by any other name is still as evil.”</em> Both of your heads turned to him in a blink, surprised looks on your faces, since you had basically forgotten he was still there. The younger angel looked back in your direction; he was opening his mouth to talk further when Simeon’s voice cut him out<em>. “My, my, we’re getting a little philosophical here, aren’t we? Why don’t we get going, Luke? After all, we have to search for the appropriate spells to help cure Mammon.”</em> Luke whined in response to his superior’s orders, but Simeon had <em>that</em> look on his face, the one he had learned from Michael, and that Lucifer used all the time, that let one know it was better to listen to him or the punishment would be regrettable for centuries. They waved to you goodbye with the promise of a quick return and left through the entrance door.</p><p>Finally, you were alone in the room with Mammon. You didn’t expect to feel like this, so lonely, having him in front of you, unmoving, so close and yet the farthest apart you’ve ever been from him. That was not your boyfriend anymore, you knew that, and maybe that was what was truly bothering you. You sat there. His hand still in yours, it felt warmer that before, the heat of your hands had transferred to it. You focused on his face, it pained you to see him so hurt, his bottom lip was also wounded, <em>-it will be painful to kiss-</em> you thought to yourself. But you weren’t going to kiss him, you knew that, and it pissed you off a little bit. You dropped your head onto his bed, just next to the hand you were still holding so tight to, and closed your eyes. Your head was filled with thoughts, both good and bad. There was so much you wanted to ask him, so much you wanted to tell him, and perhaps you would if only he was there with you, if only he was awake.</p><p><em>“Hey there, beautiful”</em> and now he was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whew, so, I guess that's a way to teach a lesson, huh, Lucifer? My poor boy for sure must be thinking hard about what he did now, ain't he? This chapter was written specifically to make an emphasis on demons, we on the game get to see their charming side pretty quickly, but there's just so much more to them, so much magic, history, and pain, it's all shaped them over the years, and boy, have they been so many. To change or not to change is a decision we make everyday, and hopefully it's enough for some people, but after mistakes are made, after we have hurt them, can we blame them if it's not?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The pain of agape.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Mammon is awake and you finally give him a piece of your mind, you're considering to forgive him, but can you really bring yourself to do it? Whether you do it or not, the other brothers have got your back.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>1 of the 4 types of love: "Agape" Greek: ἀγάπη is the love that exists regardless of changing circumstances. </p><p>I was busy the whole week, so this chapter took me a while to write, as an apology I inserted a piece I drew a couple days ago, and also for graphic purposes, so read until the end!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s said people who aren’t smart enough are the ones who talk the loudest. That was Satan’s theory to explain why Mammon was the screamer of the family. Always yelling to the top of his lungs. Announcing himself each time he arrived to a room. After hearing it for a couple thousand years, I guess anyone would get tired of it, wouldn’t they? However, in that very second, as you heard his broken, shaky voice, you did nothing more than miss it.</p><p><em>“Hello there, beautiful”</em> the sounds barely managed to slip out of his lips. It was raspy, and you could hear on its unsteadiness that he was struggling to enunciate them. It shocked you, not in a bad way, though, you just weren’t expecting him awake any time soon, he was a heavy sleeper after all. You raised your head, your sight locked with his, of course he was already staring at you; you couldn’t help your smile, ear to ear, and the droplets of tears already creeping on the corners of your eyes. “<em>Thank God, you’re awake. I’ll go tell your brothers.”</em> You attempted to let go of his hand, as you truly intended to give notice to the other two, or perhaps already five, demons standing on the other side of the door, but the firm grip on your wrist tugged you back into place.<em>“Don’t.”</em> Mammon’s voice was husky, almost like a mere growl. Your eyes met once again, you were hoping he would say something, an apology, whatever, regarding the situation you were in, and at the same time you dreaded the idea of fighting again, not when he couldn’t even raise his voice back at you; instead, he diverted his gaze and his lips formed into a pout <em>“Not that I want to spend some alone time with you, it’s just that they are loud, and I don’t feel like getting scolded or yelled at.” </em>He added, and finally there he was, the moron you had once fallen in love with, that you were still in love with. You chuckled and abided, you sat yourself back down while, unknowingly, your hand grasped his yet again. <em>“Alright. No brothers for now, but you gotta know that Simeon should show up any second, he said he’s bringing over some potions for you to take.” </em>You replied to his demand. Your expression was soft, he could see on your face that even if you were still mad, and you certainly were, you were putting all your effort to contain yourself, you were doing that for him, for his sake. He wouldn’t let you know how his chest fell so tight, so full of joy, to know that you still cared for, perhaps even loved, him; but he was aware that you could read him like a book, so to mask the hopeful look he was now wearing, he scrunched up his face instead <em>“I hate Celestial Realm remedies. They all taste like raw chicken with soy sauce.”</em> His ridiculous complaint and comparison made you crack up into a laugh. God, did he love that sound, it was already giving him a sense of relief no potion could offer. A smile was barely noticeable on his face, given that he could move his muscles just to a certain extent.</p><p><em>“Do you want me to call Simeon and tell him to hurry up? Does it hurt badly?”</em> you worriedly inquired, yet a grin seemed to be permanently decorating your factions<em>. “Nah. You kidding? If it hurt that bad, could I do <strong>this</strong>?”</em> he was so confident on his statement that you waited curiously to see what he was going to do, therefore you watched amusedly how he stayed perfectly still, not moving an inch whatsoever <em>“What are you supposed to be doing?”</em> you asked in disbelief, your smile only growing bigger. “<em>Cartwheels. Am I not doing them?”</em> both of you burst into laughter, in no time the room was filled with them, yours loud and strenuous as always, his breathy and paused, but cheerful, nonetheless, a sound you had indeed missed over this time apart.</p><p>You took a second to examine his features, the struggle on his face was clear, he was in pain, no wonder though, since his ribcage had taken quite a hit<em>. “Come on, Mammon. No playing hard with me, I know you better than anyone, remember?”</em> You shot him a look, one he recognized from the many, many times he’d seen it, the look that said you had already seen through his bullshit<em>. “Fine. I just think it will hurt more tomorrow, so I might as well get used to it today. Just, distract me until Simeon gets here. Tell me something to get my mind off the pain. Like, what have you been up two these past two days?” </em>his words sort of slipped out of his mind, he was just making small talk, not actually trying to interrogate you on your whereabouts after your breakup. You fell silent, and the fear of having screwed up once again was making him regret being born; in reality you were not paying attention to any of that, instead your mind was wrapped around how to explain to your ex-boyfriend that you went home with another guy the same night you had split up, after all, in a way that didn’t quite make sense, you still felt guilty about it<em>. “Just hanging out with Simeon and Luke” you lied “You know, today we were supposed to have a girls night in, and I got Simeon to wear nail polish, but I think it’s against the holy laws or something, so he only wore it on his toes. Not gonna lie, he looks cute as hell.”</em> You had bent over slightly, and your tone now imitated a high school girl’s that was pouring some hot gossip. <em>“No way!”</em> he answered amusedly. <em>“If you tell Asmo, he’s going to implode. He’s been trying to get Simeon to wear nail polish since he got here. So, girl’s night, huh? Like the ones we used to have? Talking about boys, eating snacks, dressing up?”</em> his comment made you snort<em> “You mean those where Asmo forced me to wear dresses, while Beel ate everything up, and you were just trash talking whatever man or demon name I brought up? Yeah, sort of, only with the angels it’s less trash talking, and I also got to actually eat some of the snacks we brought”</em> you pursed your lips as you stopped talking, you were considering whether to speak what was your mind or not, and at the end you just decided to go for it. <em>“And for the boy talking, we really just talked about one boy.” </em>Hearing your words his eyes seemed to light up, expression that lasted a mere second before he went back to a sulking one <em>“You’re going to say Lucifer just to mess with me, right?”</em> he objected. A playful grin made its way onto your face <em>“Damn it, you saw right through me.”</em> You played along for a bit <em>“Of course not, idiot, we talked about you. Now, to be fair, I did want to embarrass you, so we mostly made fun of that one time you texted me a shirtless pic, and when I asked why, you said you meant to send that to your lover.”</em> You explained to him<em>. “Hey, that was a magnificent excuse.”</em> He argued back<em>. “Sure, but when I did ask you who your lover was, you replied &lt;&lt;Lucivola&gt;&gt; and that was just plain stupid”</em> You let out an triumphant chuckle, your eyes couldn’t make out how deep he was blushing, but you were damn sure his face was burning up, he looked so embarrassed he even began to sweat.</p><p>A couple seconds passed, and it finally hit you, sweat was not part of his usual shaming routine. He was about to keep talking, arguing back that it was a cool move to pull, but a loud shush from your part made him shut up. You brought your hand to his forehead, he was <em>on fire</em>, you had felt his temperature go up on the hand you were still holding, but you figured it was normal body heat until his forehead cleared your confusion. <em>“You’re breaking a fever, a really bad one.”</em> You didn’t wait for him to say anything back, which he was going to, before you headed over to his bathroom; you were clearly in a rush, pushing his scattered laundry away in search for something you could use as a rag, a something-day old t-shirt came across you, you just went with it, you soaked the fabric in cold water and hurried back to his side.</p><p>He was about to argue against your actions once again, but the sudden cool feeling on his forehead made him flinch and get his breath caught in his throat <em>“That’s too cold.”</em> he whined. <em>“That’s because you’re burning hot”</em> your tone was almost scolding, you were slightly pissed, annoyed that your quarrel had had to escalate to this level, and you were obviously furious at Lucifer. Shit, if he was to turn any stricter that this, the six brothers could kiss their lives goodbye. <em>“I don’t know how he found out about…”</em> you hesitated. The issue had not been addressed by the two of you ever since the fight, and in fact, it was still very hard to talk about, but he needed to know you didn’t send the most powerful goon in the universe to beat him up for breaking your heart, so against your own reproach you continued <em>“…the real reason we broke up. I knew he would pull out something like this, so I told him it was some petty thing that sent me over the edge.”</em> You stared into his eyes apologetically, one of your hands pressed against his cheek, gently, careful not to cause him any pain. <em>“I know.”</em> his gaze transmitted the same amount of regret than yours, his eyes looking slightly moist. <em>“I told him.” </em>His confession startled you, you shook your head in disbelief, in plain confusion. <em>“What?”</em> you asked, your tone a bit shaky. <em>“I didn’t know he was going to punch the crap out of me, so don’t think I’m some sort of kamikaze moron.”</em> His tone had started to elevate, within the range his wounded throat allowed him to, of course. <em>“Then why didn’t you fight back!?”</em> yours, instead, was raised considerably, you were mad, at him, Lucifer, the witch, Diavolo even, for bringing you to the Devildom in the first place; but all those raging feelings seemed to drop to your guts when you heard his answer. <em>“Because I deserved it.”</em> You had never heard a man be more concise and resolute in your life. He was speaking his truth, a rare sight on Mammon. He looked so small before you, so lonely, probably as lonely as you had felt all this time. You couldn’t help it, your head moved on its own, and by the time you were fully aware of it, your lips were already onto his. It was a slow, sloppy, careless kiss. He winced into your mouth, you were right, kissing with a wounded bottom lip hurt, but he couldn’t care any less, he was melting down into your lips; you didn’t stop yourself when you came to your senses, not until you tangled your hand into his hair, the cold rag long forgotten onto the bed, and you felt it, the tiny bump on his scalp, you knew all of the brothers had them, a bump on each side of their heads, where their horns came out from whenever they turned into their demon forms.</p><p>You pulled away abruptly, sending him into a daze. That feeling beneath your fingertips was the grim reminder of who he was, the sour realization that no matter how hard you kissed him, how much you loved him, he was still a demon, the Avatar of Greed. <em>“I can’t.”</em> you muttered under your breath as your tears began to roll down. <em>“Why? Why not? Please, just one more chance. I’ll go through this pain, and any other punishment you want me to get. I’ll have a thousand Lucifers beat me up, if that what it takes to get you back.”</em> he was desperate, you could hear it in his voice, and you considered his words, you did, but the longer you played them in your head, the more you felt something just didn’t sit right with them<em>. “That’s the issue, Mammon, don’t you see? You can go through all that pain, drink a couple of potions, and be fine in a few days; but me? From the moment I watched that video, from the moment I knew you had betrayed me, the pain hasn’t stopped, not even when I’m asleep, not a single second has gone by that I’m not in pure agony. It won’t stop, no matter what I shove down my throat, and believe me I’ve tried, nothing will make it go away, at least not any time soon.”</em> You watched through teary eyes how he had also begun to cry. You wanted to hug him, but you were instead pulling away further, and when you were almost ready to stand up, a cry from him caught back your attention. <em>“Friends!”</em> he yelled, immediately you could see his face twist with pain, the yell had ripped through his throat, he did his best to muscle through it and directed his sight back to you. <em>“Friends. You don’t want to get back together, and I get that. I truly do. But we were friends, best friends, before starting this, and I don’t want to lose that. It might not be able to happen right away, I know, but can you still be open to the possibility?”</em> his eyes seemed to be imploring you as they stared into yours. <em>“It might take some time.”</em> You blurted out, barely giving it any thought. <em>“As much as you need. I just…”</em> he stopped to swallow down the lump that had formed in his throat. <em>“You will eventually leave, and I want you to have good memories of me, right now they might be tainted, but from now on I will dedicate myself for the blissful ones to out weight the bad ones. I want you to smile when you look back at our time together once you are gone. At least let me fix that.”</em> It warmed your heart the way he expressed himself, what you knew of him now had put him under a different light, maybe not a romantic one, but certainly a loving one. You loved him, whatever that meant, and romantically or not, you wanted to care for him, cheer for him, be with him. <em>“Alright. Let’s work our way to that.”</em> You smiled gently at the sobbing man before you; in return he drew a saddened, yet hopeful grin on his face.</p><p>You were relieved to hear a knock on his door, otherwise you knew you’d be lured into kissing him again, and truth be told you were still weak for the taste of his lips. Simeon and Luke appeared shortly after you asked them to come in, a bag filled with shiny liquids trapped in very cute, almost movie-like, crystal bottles. The older angel approached your side and laid a hand on your shoulder. <em>“He’ll take a couple of these for the bruises, but if we want the deeper wounds to heal properly, I will have to use some magic. I’ll need no distractions, so why don’t you call it a night? The other brothers have got your room tidied up. Luke and I will sleep over to keep an eye on Mammon. The magic will put him to sleep either way, so I’m sure he doesn’t need three body guards.”</em> there was a complaining growl from Mammon at Simeon’s words, but you knew better than to stay inside the wolf’s mouth any longer. You smiled at him before complying to your guardian’s instructions and heading out the door.</p><p>You stood against the wooden piece for a little while after it closed behind you. Your body was hot,  and heavily overwhelmed; your breakup was implied during the fight, but you had never said it out loud, not until now, &lt;&lt;just a friend&gt;&gt;, that’s all he was going to be from that night on. You were not thrilled to be spiraling into your sad thoughts in the middle of the corridor, so you decided to head over to your room, you were too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice the absence of your other housemates. You finally reached your door, the lights inside seemed to the on, but you didn’t pay much attention to it, you flung the entrance open and, immediately, a familiar voice scared you off your mind.</p><p><em>“You’re late.”</em> Asmodeus complained at you. The rest of the brothers were scattered around your room, everyone but Lucifer and Mammon for obvious reasons. <em>“What’s all this?”</em> you asked curiously, thankful for their presence, nonetheless. <em>“Simeon told us about how this situation interrupted your girl’s night, and you know, I consider those nights sacred, so I pulled a little get together to make it up to you.”</em> He smiled gently. <em>“That and, well, we thought you could use a friend, or five, as you can see”</em> he nodded. You fumbled with the hem of your pants a little bit, truly unsure of what to answer, you weren’t in the mood to watch rom-coms and eat ice cream, but the idea of just crying yourself to sleep wasn’t either the most appealing. <em>“Asmo I…”</em> you began to excuse yourself, but he started talking once again, purposely to cut you off.  <em>“Come on, we’ve missed you so, so much. Beel had a second dinner to avoid eating all the snacks, Levi brought his Super Devil Party Game that we can all play together, Belphie gathered the softest blankets for us to lay on, I brought all of my makeup, and I mean <strong>all</strong> of it, and Satan put together a bunch of books about why men ain’t shit. We’re well prepared, so, yeah, just let us be your girlfriends for tonight, because, honestly, we need our girlfriend too.”</em> The rest of the devil bunch just nodded along to what Asmodeus was babbling about, it was clear on their determined faces that no force in the vast hell was going to make them change their minds. You were cornered, or so you told yourself, to accept their offers. <em>“Alright, girlfriends. Let’s get me to forget this boy that broke my heart.”</em> the entire room roared in joy as you closed the door behind you.</p><p>In another part of town, another girl’s night of its own was occurring, but only this one had two fully grown men, laying on a couch, with an almost empty bottle of demonus chilling on the table. <em>“Are you ready to talk now?”</em> Diavolo threw a random glove at Lucifer who was laying flat against the armrest of the couch as he asked<em>. “I just can’t believe I lost control that way, Diavolo.”</em> He sighed into the empty glass he was still holding to his lips. <em>“Don’t beat yourself up, Lucifer, what your brother did was bad. You care for that human, and I’m aware it’s not only a student-dean sort of relationship anymore. I get it, and I relate to that as well. A man hurt someone you consider part of your family; you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about, certainly not because of what you did to him, who knows, if it had been me to hear about it first, it could have been way worse.”</em> the young ruler of hell was sitting on the other side of the couch, back against the armrest as well, simply staring in the direction of his friend, he watched as Lucifer decided to sit back down, feet placed on the floor, he rested his elbows atop of his thighs, his head dropping in clear shame. <em>“Except that I do, Diavolo.”</em> He brought up his hands to his face and rubbed the palms against his eyes in frustration. <em>“Because I’m the reason they broke up.”</em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>[ BONUS IMAGE: MAMMON'S SHIRTLESS SELFIE THAT HE SENT TO MC BEFORE THEY BECAME A COUPLE ] </em>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>1 of the 4 types of love: "Philia" Greek: φιλία is the love between friends as close as siblings in strength and duration. </p><p>One of the biggest joys life has brought me is to have a group of friends I can call home, beyond family bond, we will always have each other's backs. Regardless of the circumstances, MC will always find in the brothers a shelter. I really hope I transmitted this to the readers in this episode.</p><p>If you enjoyed the Mammon selfie art you can follow me on my other social media!:<br/>https://beelmons.tumblr.com/<br/>https://twitter.com/sovkitas<br/>https://www.instagram.com/sovkitas/</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Tales of Demons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's been a month since you broke up with Mammon, you have begun to feel better about yourself and about your slowly repairing friendship. One night of drinks, his brothers spill out a couple of secrets that make you reconsider. Was dumping him really the right choice?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>New chapter yay! I had THE WORST writer's block with this one. It's not as plot-driven as the others, but it will give background to future chapters. Let's get to know the demons a little bit, shall we?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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    <span class="u">Rule number one. You will respect the other’s personal space and right to be apart. Rule number two. What’s discussed or said to third parties regarding your relationship must remain private. Rule number three. You should never be left alone together, nor hang out by yourselves. Rule number four. If the third rule was to be violated, under no circumstances alcohol can be involved. Rule number five. Texting should be limited to housing, gossip, and communication purposes, you’re not allowed to get personal discussions via message. Rule number six. No discussing the affair unless seeking reconciliation. </span>
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</p><p>Those were the conditions you had agreed to if you wanted your friendship with Mammon blossoming healthily again. It was Asmodeus’s idea to come up with a proper regulation sheet, Satan’s to formerly redact it in the shape of a contract, and Belphie’s to curse it so whoever broke a rule first would grow a lizard tail for a week. Needless to say, Lucifer opposed to every single one of those ideas, however it was not his place to decide, neither his area of expertise, so he just stood back, watching the two of you sign a home-printed document, thinking to himself how it very much looked like a divorce, and how odd it was that you two looked so happy about it, specially Mammon.</p><p>You were the first one to exercise your right to be alone. As Lucifer so beautifully put it, one cannot heal in the same place they were broken, so he kindly proposed to Diavolo you move into Purgatory Hall for a month or so. You were constantly under the vigilance of Simeon, which meant Luke came in as a combo and, since he had become your neighbor, Solomon would often tag along as well. Nonetheless, distance from the house of lamentation did not mean being apart from the brothers. Satan and Asmo often waited by the cross path in the mornings, sometimes joined by Beelzebub and Mammon, and other times it would be just you with the angels and the fellow human walking together to RAD.</p><p>At school, the lunch squad had become larger as Simeon, Luke, and Solomon joined the popular demon table, and you were damn glad they did, because the place had become a circus, and you and Mammon were the main attractions. Let’s rewind a little bit to when your best friend Mammon finally had the courage to ask you out, or more like, force you to go places with him, got you into trouble, and later you found out that was supposed to be your first date, only he never told you it was. He had always had his own little world inside that pretty, big head of his, and the second you said you were an official couple he just had to broadcast it to the world. Literally. He snuck into Lucifer’s office to use the intercom, told everyone you were <em>his</em> human, and threatened any demon within hearing distance to never lay a hand on you if they didn’t want to meet his wrath, all that on the academy’s communication sound system. Yes, he was grounded for about a month.  But now, everyone, somehow, knew you weren’t together anymore. Sure, no one knew why, but word had spread like wildfire, and the demons had gone bananas with such interesting news. It was not that you were exactly popular, it’s just that you were the eccentric, mysterious, and brand-new exchange student, the younger demons were excited to brag about ‘landing’ someone like you. Solomon had his share of unwanted suitors, too, but being raised among royalty he knew just exactly what to say to keep them away without being rude. You, on the other hand, basically snarked at any male demon than came near you during the odd times that you wandered the halls on your own.</p><p>Regardless of the lady-of-the-hour situation at the academy, life had turned back as pleasant as usual. Mammon abided to the contract as well as you had, trying to address you as less as possible, keeping proper distance, and on guard to not let his tongue run wild when talking to others about you. Maybe you had not healed fully, you still cried yourself to sleep every now and then, but you could now have a normal conversation with him without it being completely awkward or aberrantly painful; turns out having love and support from your loved ones is better than any frog sweat potion made by Solomon to actually fix a broken heart, hence why you immediately accepted the offer once Diavolo asked you to move back into the House of Lamentation. It just seemed right, you missed your family, and you were going to do so as soon as the weekend arrived. You looked forward to hanging out with Mammon a bit more than usual, since you guys barely had any alone time when living with his family, you could do it without violating any rules; plus, you knew there wouldn’t be a problem, your mind and heart were in the right place and so were Mammon’s.</p><p>Yeah, you kept telling yourself that every time. Every time you noticed how his yelling seemed to be less recurring, how he seemed to space out during lunch lost in thought, when you heard Asmo’s complaints about him not wanting to go out clubbing anymore, or how whenever he smiled something just seemed off; you would know, that bright smile was the one that had made you fall for him anyways.</p><p><em>“Maybe he’s depressed.”</em> Asmodeus said as he threw a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. His cheeks were reddened, his eyes half lidded, and his speech a little slurred. You, Satan, Beel, and Asmo had been drinking in your room at Purgatory Hall. Satan needed to get away after a quarrel with Lucifer, Asmodeus just wanted to gossip with you, and Beel follows after whoever has snacks, they figured you needed help packing your stuff up to move back into their house the next day, needless to say, they didn’t help at all. The four of you were a little tipsy, complaining and dishing all night. Since alcohol and food were involved you expected the Mammon topic to come up at any second, but not in the way they had mentioned him, and certainly not about this particular issue. “<em>Can demons get depressed?”</em> you pondered, slightly confused by the statement.<em> “I don’t think we do, at least not clinically like humans. However, as have feelings and musings too, we feel pain and grief, so perhaps this is just part of his healing process.”</em> Satan answered your inquire. You couldn’t help but scoff. <em>“What does he need healing from? I was the one getting hurt, and I’m better now, enough to move back to a place where I would be living with him.”</em> Your tone was slightly annoyed, but your words really came out sharper than intended, and you had to blame the alcohol for that. “<em>It’s not that simple, you know?”</em> Satan once again began to explain <em>“Just like we can’t experience extreme emotion for prolonged periods of time such as depression, it’s safe to assume the same about positive feelings, like joy, or love; or so we believed until one of us actually fell in love. To be candid with you, it was a bit of unexplored territory, and for now, what comes after heart break is not entirely clear to any of us. If we went by demon logic, rage was supposed to be the most lingering phase, but he hasn’t even reached that one yet, hence our worry.”</em> He had put more effort into making sense of his words, more than he would normally do not being intoxicated, but they had actually gotten through you.</p><p>Beelzebub could easily see the way they had affected you on your vexed expression. He was sitting down on the floor by your bed, back resting against the frame surrounding the mattress, you at his right with your position mirroring his, Satan was in front of you, resting his back against the wall, and Asmodeus was straight up spread like a starfish in the middle of the room. The redhead handed you a piece of bread he himself was snacking on, and you absentmindedly took it, he then threw his arm around your shoulders, his hand landing atop of your head to drive it closer to his, his skull gently bumping against yours. Each brother had their own silent way of showing you affection and support, that was Beelzebub’s, a tiny detail that could make your heart burst with joy, and your nerves calm down like a charm.</p><p>You huffed your cheeks, a bit overwhelmed by your own, not so happy, thoughts. <em>“Then, if he loved me so much, as you say, and was so in love with me, how come he threw it all away without a second thought? I mean, would you guys have cheated on me?”</em> your voice was slightly broken, you had leaned into Beel’s touch and now your head was resting against his shoulder, seeming almost defeated. The three siblings exchanged concerned looks. It was not their plan to bring up the affair, but since you had decided to go there, they had green light to provide a different point of view on the matter. <em>“Perhaps. If the situation was demanding so.” </em>Asmodeus replied without hesitation.</p><p>Your jaw dropped, and your expression let them know you felt thoroughly offended. The brothers stole a glance from you and broke into a loud laugh. <em>“Not the answer you were expecting, right?”</em> Asmo teased. <em>“It’s not personal, though, if we were to do it, it was certainly not with the intention of hurting you. Relationships and commitment come different for demons than for humans. Most of us, when having relationships, tend to have a more open, pleasure-oriented agreement, instead of exclusive commitment.”</em> He added, yet his tone sounded rather serious. <em>“Come on, you’re just saying that because you are you!”</em> you blurted out. <em>“Not really”</em> the man sitting next to you spoke up. You were really shocked now, your personal teddy bear, love bean, and who you thought had purest soul among the demons had agreed with whom you thought had the dirtiest, thus you kept staring at him in disbelief. <em>“Don’t look at me like that, I don’t go around having pleasure-oriented relationships, but that’s only because I have no interest in them, most of the time. Other demons feel different, though.” </em>He explained in return to your glare towards him. <em>“Some of us enjoy monogamy under certain circumstances, others prefer openness or even polygamy. After all, long-life commitment and breeding with an only partner are concepts created by our father in order to achieve eternity in his realm, but are not a universal truth, only an option to choose from. Still, if a couple has decided to be monogamous, it’s common decency to respect the agreement.” </em>Satan complemented Beel’s statement.</p><p>You remained deep in thought for a couple of seconds, only coming back to reality when the youngest brother pinched at your cheek. <em>“Then, what kind of situations could be demanding betray someone like that, Asmo?</em>” you looked in his direction as you spilled the question that had been rounding your mind. The slender boy brought his hand up to his chin, grabbing it between his index finger and thumb as he considered the best way to word his answer <em>“For example, if someone were to tell Beel that if he didn’t cheat on you, all of the food would disappear, he would cheat on you. If Satan were angry enough, he would cheat on you. Even Lucifer might give in if someone told him he was not man enough if he didn’t do it.”</em> Your brows had furrowed as he spoke, no matter how he put it, in your ears it just seemed like an awful way to live. Your face showed plain disgust. You weren’t disgusted at them, you knew they weren’t sheer evil, but the whole idea of being able to do such hideous things out of those petty reasons was making the insides of your stomach twirl. The silence was becoming slightly awkward; therefore, Satan felt the need to clarify <em>“What my vocabulary-challenged little brother is so elegantly trying to say is: Sin for humans is the epitaph of evil. For us, demons, it’s a way to express our freedom. Now, when talking about us, the seven rulers of hell, specifically, there’s just a lot more to it. We’re not people, we’re mystical creatures, and not simple energy forms, we’re the embodiment of these shameful feelings, we were born from them. We don’t choose to sin; we are the sins. Thus, if no sin subsists, we cease to exist as well. We feed off these sentiments, pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth. The stronger they are, the stronger we get. However, the key to control is balance, and when balance is lost, so can be control. We have free will only to an extent; after a certain limit is exceeded, there’s no way to tell how things will go, and it’s likely we just lose ourselves to the core evil of our soul”</em> He grabbed a random bottle that had some liquid left and chugged it down in one go as he finished talking. The other demons seemed gloomy hearing their brother speak. You figured it was a hard realization to make, drunk, in the middle of the night, to be trapped with such destiny. As Solomon told you that night, ‘they don’t have a choice to do otherwise’.</p><p>The four of you spent some more time talking, however the subject was long dropped, and after exchanging a couple of giggles and some more alcohol, it finally was time to let you rest. They waved goodbye as they left your room, Asmo clinging on Beel’s arm to help him walk. They were still drunk and so were you. You decided to lay down on your bed, trying to fall asleep to avoid sinking into your thoughts; you failed thoroughly. Satan’s words were still hovering your train of thought: ‘We don’t choose to sin; we are the sins’. That sentence had had special impact on you. It brought memories of that fatidic night, as you yelled your guts out to your cheating boyfriend, the words he had said, that you had dismissed so lightly, had suddenly appeared under another light. ‘I just got a little…’ ‘Greedy?’. Your drunken mind offered a very intrusive and unwanted thought, perhaps that night had nothing to do with betrayal, he didn’t want to cheat on you, maybe he just didn’t have a choice.</p><p>Tears began to roll down your face before you knew it. Your chest felt heavy, aching in fact, as you once again replayed your breakup in your head. You wanted to see him, so badly, you wanted to tell him all the things you hated about him, and all the things you loved about him. What for? You didn’t know, and maybe if you had been sober, you would have stopped yourself from grabbing your D.D.D. as you did; you would have stopped yourself from calling him, as you did.</p><p><em>“hello?”</em> you heard from the speaker as the line connected, his voice was raspy and slightly deeper than normal, which lead you to think he was probably already asleep. <em>“Mammon? It’s me.”</em> You said nervously into the mic. There was a silence on the other end that was making you uneasy <em>“Are you in trouble?”</em> he finally answered with a bit of doubt. <em>“Kind of.”</em> You lied “<em>Can you come over?”</em> you bit your lip as you impatiently waited for his answer. <em>“W-What?!”</em> he yelled straight into your ear and you could hear a loud ‘thump’ in the background; you did your best not to laugh as you pictured him falling off the bed from your shocking proposal. He was just adorable like that. <em>“Are my brothers still with you?”</em> he asked. <em>“No. They left a bit ago. They should be arriving home shortly”</em> you answered. Again, silence. It was getting a little annoying how reluctant he seemed to be, how it looked almost like he didn’t want to talk to you at all. “<em>Are you drunk?”</em> he said, causing you to frown. <em>“So, what if I am? Drunk or not, I know I’m feeling blue and I want some comfort, and I know that I want it from you.”</em> Your speech was a little slurred. If he could tell so easily that you were this drunk, perhaps this wasn’t the best idea; but the alcohol had made you not care, you pursed your lips for a second before you continued to speak <em>“I miss you, very much so.”</em> Your tone was soft, almost like a whisper. <em>“You don’t even need me to say it back to know it</em>.” He answered. His tone, on the other hand, sounded a bit colder than usual. <em>“Screw the rules, Mammon. I feel like, if I don’t see you right now, if I don’t get in your arms this instant, I’m going to explode.”</em> You sort of meant what you said, in fact, you would spend the next three days thinking if you would have said the same if you hadn’t been drunk, and the answer would have been an utter yes. “<em>To be saying cheesy stuff like that, hah, you really are shitfaced aren’t ya?”</em> he chuckled <em>“Aight. It’s a bother to, but only because I’m concerned, I’ll give you a hand. Stay still and don’t do anything stupid.”</em> He hung up before you could answer. You were laying down on your back, stiffly staring at the ceiling. It was around a twenty-minute walk from the House of Lamentation to Purgatory Hall, and you were counting the minutes to see him appear through the door. The alcohol had dissipated a little bit and, sure, your nerves were growing, but you were surprised to find out that no sober regret was arising within you. You wanted to see him so badly. You wanted him so badly.</p><p>There was a knock on the door after a couple of minutes, you checked your phone, only ten had passed, boy, he must have flied all the way there. You smiled to yourself and took a second to look in the mirror, you looked like shit, but your brain made you believe fixing your clothes a little bit was more than enough to welcome your former boyfriend into your room. You approached the door and sighed heavily, preparing yourself to open.</p><p><em>“Hey”</em> you said as soon as the man appeared in your line of sight. <em>“Hey.”</em> Solomon stood at the entrance with a smile drawn on his face <em>“Got the news that you needed some company, and by the looks of it, and the smell of your room, I’m guessing girls’ night gone wild?”</em> he spoke in a tender voice. He was wearing his pajamas and holding between his hands a couple of bottles of water, along with other colorful things that you were safe to assume were potions. You let him in even when your expression got stuck in an eternal shock. You talked and talked, and he ended up making you company until you fell asleep. You didn’t get to check your phone as you two bantered about old human world stories, and maybe that was the reason why you’d missed Mammon’s text that night.</p><p>
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    <em>[2:30am] Mammon: Just saved you from having a lizard tail for a week. You can thank me tomorrow. Ya better never forget I’m the greatest friend of all times! </em>
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</p><p>Mammon remained seated on the edge of his bed, fingers gently tapping on his screen impatiently as he waited for a reply, any kind of reply. ‘I didn’t want Solomon to come, I wanted you’ ‘What is this? Why aren’t you here?’ ‘White haired boys are not interchangeable, if I asked for you, I want you’ were a few of sceneries running through his head, but instead he only received a text from Solomon telling him to rest assured, as he was now taking care of you. He threw the device against the nearest wall as he read the enraging message. His sight raised towards the other person that was keeping him company in his room, eyes filled with tears.</p><p>“<em>There you go. Solomon is with her instead.”</em> He growled towards the taller man. <em>“Hope you’re happy now, Lucifer.”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Dun dun dun!!!! Lucifer keeps doing shady stuff we don't know about? That's very him if you ask me. Sorry I didn't solve the mystery just yet, you'll have to wait a bit to get an explanation for his actions (if there's any at all). Belphegor and Leviathan are literally staying out of it, because they are just not good at this kinda stuff, but they might make a more relevant appearance in the future, just cause i love them that much too. </p><p>Also, I want to thank you all for your comments. This story has flopped on tumblr, fanfiction.net, and other plattforms, so it's been a little discouraging to keep writing, but when I come on here and see all your support, I just feel like I need to keep doing, I can't leave you all hanging wondering if they got together or not, right? So thank you!!</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The power of Philia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As Mammon's behavior becomes more worrisome, Lucifer decides to come forward about what he did. When talking to his brother he discovers he's been doing stupid things that would put himself in danger.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The story hit 2.5k ! Thank you so much for reading, honestly. I had this chapter ready, but I was waiting to hit the milestone so we could celebrate it together. 7 chapters that have been quite a ride, and a few more to go, we might be reaching the end soon, though. Funny enough I haven't decided how it's gonna end yet hehehe. </p><p>Some trigger warnings: Mention of poison, poisoning, and severe sickness.</p><p>This episode ocurrs the same night as last episode, before and while Satan, Asmo, and Beel are in your room.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucifer had always considered himself to be the backbone of his family, constantly changing the toilet paper rolls when they went empty, calling the handyman when something within the house was broken, keeping his brothers’ lives harmonious, safe, and in order. Due to the exhausting weight that rested on his shoulders, that he himself had just put there, his present recurrent nightmare was leaving the house with his family inside and, some way or another, the house would catch on fire. He realized it was a silly dream, almost, but it kept him on his toes every time he had it. However, nowadays, he wished that same nightmare would come to life instead of the one he was living through.</p><p>His new addition to the family, that he cherished as much as his brothers, had fallen in love, and it’s any big brother’s worst fear to have their precious sister thirsting over a good-for-nothing boy; as a cherry on top, that boy happened to be his little brother. The one he thought the most reckless, troublesome, and immature.</p><p>When he first noticed that little spark between you two, he couldn’t help but feel anxious about it, it was Diavolo who told him he was being a little overdramatic, that friendship was also a very powerful form of love. You would hang out every day, to study, to relax, to play around, there was nothing you two didn’t do together. ‘They are just really good friends’ Lucifer kept telling himself ‘She wouldn’t give Mammon the time of day, right?’ his question was answered shortly after, when you and Mammon showed up to his office, brought by one of the teachers that caught you making out in the gym showers.</p><p>He masked his concern behind a disappointed lecture, and later he spent the rest of the night letting his sorrows out in Diavolo’s office. <em>“You should be happy for them, and for us, Lucifer. Not only is the exchange program a success, having significant bonds between humans and demons as we’d hoped, but we also have an inter-realm couple, what’s there more important and peace-making than true love?”</em> funny how the King of Hell, ruler of devils, would be the one rooting for ‘true love’ to prevail. <em>“For demons?”</em> Lucifer scoffed. <em>“Anything.”</em> His annoyed demeanor was rather cute in Diavolo´s eyes, he adored the way his friend constantly hid pure concern for the wellbeing of his beloved siblings behind an appearance of disagreement and authority.</p><p>His mindset began to change after a few months had passed, in fact, he was rooting for you to stay together for the rest of eternity. Cheesy, right? Well, it was nothing of the sorts. You were just making his life so, so much easier. Overnight, Mammon had stopped being the overenergized puppy destroying every cushion in existence, or well, his energy was mostly being spent on you, and on destroying other things he didn’t want to mention, or even think about. He stopped stealing from the house and his brothers, his expense account went only a bit over the budget each month, he was doing better in school, and Lucifer had to babysit him much less. Whenever he got in trouble, it was mostly you-related, skipping classes to walk you home, spending too much on a gift for you, being a bit too violent to someone who had disrespected you. He was still his obnoxious, careless little brother, only then he had finally begun to walk the path of a righteous demon, ironically, someone the entire realm could be proud of.</p><p>Lucifer was well aware of the positive changes you had brought into his life, as well as his brothers’, and was thankful every day for it; but he couldn’t shake off the uneasiness he got watching you and Mammon swear eternal love to each other. He had been wandering the worlds long enough to know such thing was nonexistent, and it made him nervous, nervous to see the wreck both of you would become when it ended, and it was on him to pick up your broken pieces.  </p><p><em>“We need to decide what to do about Mammon.”</em> He said firmly and resolutely. He had gathered five out of his six brothers in the study room for an ‘emergency family meeting’, as he had put it on text earlier in the morning. It was a rare sight having all of them show up in such short notice, but that fact only made it clear they shared the same corcern. <em>“I’d say we leave him alone; breakups are hard, he’s just sad.”</em> Asmodeus answered with a sigh. <em>“I agree to an extent, yet I can’t help but feel his recent behavior is rather erratic, very not Mammon-like.”</em> Satan spoke up his mind. <em>“He’s boring.”</em> Belphegor affirmed <em>“Say it like it is, Satan, Mammon is straight up boring nowadays.”</em> He continued. <em>“Belphie.”</em> Lucifer muttered and shot him a look, letting him know it wasn’t an appropriate wording given the situation. <em>“But Belphie is right, Lucifer.”</em> Leviathan sided with the youngest <em>“It’s not an insult; he’s always been lively and troublesome, sure, but with his reckless attitude adventure and fun always came along, even if we didn’t want it, but lately he just… does nothing. Just the other day I got so worried after he knocked on my door and handed me my wallet, he said I had left it in the kitchen and he decided to return it so I wouldn’t lose it. I checked carefully and all the money was there. I expected him to go back to his old ways after the breakup, but he hasn’t.”</em> the blue haired demon explained. <em>“Maybe he’s changed for good. You know, for love.”</em> Beelzebub barged in.  Lucifer could simply listen silently to his siblings’ takes on the subject. Everyone seemed to let out a big sigh at Beel’s words. It was a hard concept to grasp, but they all had been through improvement since you had gotten into their lives, so they understood it was not impossible. <em>“Or he’s still like that because he has hope they’ll get back together”</em> Belphegor blurted out as to fill the silence that had fallen upon them. The worried looks they exchanged made them realize it was an idea that all of them had had, and the way their brows furrowed also showed how worrisome such thought was to them. <em>“He probably hasn’t realized it’s truly over yet. Which will make it really hard on him if she’s moving back in here tomorrow.”</em> Asmodeus added. Lucifer took a deep breath in. His elbows rested on the surface of the desk and his fingers intertwined together, he stared in Asmodeus direction, deep in thought as he fidgeted with his gloved thumbs <em>“Asmo, you are familiar with these sort of feelings better than us, in your own way. Do you think reconciliation is viable?”</em> Lucifer asked. Asmodeus folded his arms over his chest, reluctant to answer candidly, and doubtful about his own opinion as well. <em>“I don’t have many details of what went down between the two exactly. I doubt she’s forgotten about him, gotta say, she was very much in love. But repairable? It’s hard to tell. I could try heading over to her room, though. I’ll do some Asmo-style shimmy shimmy and get the gossip out of her.”</em> He ended his sentence with a proud, sheepish grin. Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly annoyed<em>. “I’ll tag along. Not only to babysit but because I heard she needed help to pack up, we can make a night out of it, that way she’ll open up easier.”</em> Satan added. <em>“I’ll go too.”</em> Beelzebub barged in. <em>“No specific reason, she just has Celestial Realm sweets, and I like eating them with her.”</em> His words stole a light chuckle from his twin <em>“That sounds like a very specific reason, Beel.” </em>He said. The fourth, fifth, and sixth born brothers left the table almost immediately, leaving behind Levi, Belphie, and Lucifer only. The silence was overwhelming, but each man was trying to put their thoughts in order before daring to say anything that would come out as stupid. <em>“I think you should try talking to him, Lucifer.”</em> Leviathan words seemed to cut through the frigid air around them. <em>“Me?”</em> he replied, a little taken aback. <em>“He listens to you”</em> Belphegor reassured him. Lucifer couldn’t help but scoff with incredulity. <em>“Since when is that?”</em> he questioned. Levi and Belphie looked at each other for a second. <em>“I won’t say this ever again, and don’t let it go to your head. But we all, in our own ways, admire you. You seem very together, especially regarding your feelings, and hold some wisdom in you that we clearly don’t. I’m sure he will listen to your advice. Just don’t go all robotic on him, he’s sensitive, after all”</em> Without further explanation the youngest took his leave from the room, unwilling to discuss the matter any further. A heavy sigh escaped the eldest’s lips, which didn’t go unnoticed by Levi. <em>“You need to make him explode.”</em> He said. <em>“He feels guilty for hurting her, so he’s probably mad at himself. If he let’s out that frustration, he will finally get closure, and we’ll have our scummy moron back in no time.”</em> Leviathan stood up from his chair, eager to head back to his room at last. <em>“You seem very concerned, Levi, how uncharacteristic of you”</em> Lucifer said as he watched him walk towards the door. <em>“Well, I don’t really enjoy romance anime without a happy ending.”</em> He rushed to close the door behind him.</p><p>Lucifer remained in the study a little longer, simply resting on one of the velvety chairs he had once bought for that purpose. ‘You should talk to Mammon’ the thought appeared on his mind. He yet again released some air that felt heavy in his lungs <em>“and tell him what? Love only leads to pain and you should move on once and for all? Right.”</em> He muttered to himself. Without intending to, he had fallen asleep. He woke up around two am, bothered by the heavy clothing he never changed out of. He decided to head to bed, whatever talk he was going to have with Mammon could wait until morning; or so he had planned, until he walked past his brother’s room and accidentally over heard a certain private conversation. ‘Stay still and don’t do anything stupid’ he heard him say.</p><p>Mammon was surprised out of his wits after opening his door, not expecting to see the figure of his older brother standing intimidatingly before him, arms crossed over his chest, and a glare that would put Diavolo himself on his toes. <em>“Heading out so late?” </em>Lucifer inquired. Mammon couldn’t help but to look away in embarrassment. <em>“Going real quick to Purgatory Hall. I’ll be back without causing trouble, I promise.”</em> He said in a low voice, almost indirectly asking for permission. Lucifer noticed the heavy bags under his eyes, and how his skin seemed to have lost some color. His brows furrowed in concern. <em>“You look tired, you should rest. Whatever you need to tell her can wait until tomorrow.” </em>He said in attempt to keep him in place. <em>“It’s not like that, Lucifer. She is drunk, she said she needed help ‘cause she’s feeling upset, so I’ll just head over to calm her down and I’ll be back before you know it.” </em>Mammon explained. <em>“Last I heard, that’s against the so-called friendship contract.”</em> Lucifer was making his best effort to stop him from going out without using physical force. <em>“Please, Lucifer”</em> the boy’s tone had turned into a tired, pleading one<em>. “She needs to trust me again, if I can show her that I can be there for her without any ulterior motive, maybe she’ll be able to look at me as a suitor again. I’m begging you. This whole situation is my fault only, and I need to make it right.”</em> He raised his sight to meet with the eldest’s. Lucifer stared deep into the cyan orbs in front of him. Had they lost color, too? A ridiculous thought, that wasn’t possible, but they indeed looked different, they used to hold a flame within them, yet now that light seemed to be flickering, struggling to keep shining on.</p><p>“<em>That’s… not entirely true.”</em> Lucifer brought himself to say. <em>“What?”</em> Mammon replied in utter confusion. <em>“The guilt. It shouldn’t fall solely on you. I had something to do with it, as well.”</em> The avatar of pride confessed. Mammon had to take a few steps back, it didn’t make sense in his head, none of his actions were influenced by Lucifer, he was completely sure about that. Without realizing it, he had sat back down onto the bed, only holding onto his mobile device in case you called. He stared back in confusion, overwhelmed by the silence, and the lack of elaboration from Lucifer was starting to piss him off. <em>“So? Are you going to explain yourself? Or you just expect me to take that vague answer and do whatever you say?!”</em> Mammon’s voice was slightly raised, he was clearly getting worked up by the second.</p><p><em>“First, tell her you are not going.” </em>Lucifer demanded. Mammon opened his mouth about to yell something back, but his brother’s following instruction stopped them; <em>“If you’re worried about her, call someone else to aid her. Only if you remain here, I will be able to tell you the truth.”</em> Mammon clenched his jaw at the order he had received. It seemed so unfair. What game was Lucifer playing? But if he found out about something else, something that took the fault away from him, maybe, just maybe, he’d grow the courage to fight for you, to try to win you back. He brought the device between his hands and texted your neighbor. Ideally, he wouldn’t want Solomon around you while you were so vulnerable, but Simeon was a heavy sleeper, and Luke would have been of no help, also he had no idea where his other brothers were, or if they were as drunk as you. He waited impatiently, fingers tapping on the screen of his D.D.D. as he waited for a reply to the text he had send you, a reply that never came.</p><p>
  <strong> <em>[2:40am] Solomon: Rest assured, Mammon. I’m with her now, I’ll take care of things. Thank you for your concern. </em> </strong>
</p><p>As he stared at the screen, his growing rage got the best of him. He weakly threw the device towards the nearest wall, not wanting to even be aware it existed at that point. He angrily scowled at the black-haired man who had already let himself in, having closed the door behind him. <em>“There you go. Solomon is with her instead. Hope you are happy now, Lucifer.” </em></p><p><em>“Satisfied to have reached my goal, but not happy, no.”</em> Lucifer allowed himself onto the bed, at the spot next to Mammon; his expression was gentler than before, sad to be exact. <em>“Since you abided, I’ll tell you the truth, but before everything else, I think I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, Mammon. I truly am. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”</em> Mammon stared in his direction with squinted eyes, speechless, and his silence was cue for Lucifer to continue. <em>“That witch, she summoned me before she summoned you. She explained the whole gala-bragging scheme, it was such a tedious and petty task, and I was swamped in work, I didn’t need a major time-wasting activity like that getting in my way. A casino seemed like a place you would enjoy, so I lent her a spell, a way to summon you. You had grown so much, you had turned so responsible, so loyal, all because of her. I honestly thought the task was going to be easy to accomplish, without obstacles, a normal demon-human masquerade, just like you had done many times before. I never thought you would…”</em> he made a pause. His younger brother remained silent, eyes fixed on his hands that were tightly gripping onto the fabric of his pants, they slowly turned into fists, the skin of his back had begun to rip, allowing the edges of his wings to show. His whole body was engulfed with faint, dim, yellow flames, and on his head his horns were threatening to come out as he started talking. <em>“I wasn’t supposed to be there that night. I wasn’t supposed to meet any witch. I had paid off my debts, all of them, so I wouldn’t have to see any of them anymore. I knew it made her insecure, so I decided I wouldn’t do it unless absolutely necessary. And now you are telling me, you sent me there because doing it yourself inconvenienced you?”</em> Mammon was clenching his jaw to the point of pain, his fangs showing clearly as feelings of wrath took over his heart. Lucifer, on the other hand, took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. He was bracing himself for the rage of his brother to land upon him, and he was willing to accept it, as he deserved whatever he could possibly do to let his frustration out on him. Yet, instead of ripping, angry screams, and skin-bruising punches, he only heard a loud sob. If he was being honest, he would have preferred a hit to the guts; it would have been a lot less painful than seeing him break down like this, absolutely consumed by sorrow. <em>“The reason why I was there doesn’t matter. Does it?”</em> Mammon shakily said to himself. <em>“I could have done it without having sex with her. It’s useless to pin it on you, Lucifer, no matter how much I want to. The only way it could have been avoided was if I hadn’t lost control of myself. If I just wasn’t a demon.”</em> With every word coming out of his mouth, Lucifer could physically feel his heart breaking. The tears had begun to flood Mammon’s face, he still looked exhausted as his body trembled from his effort, an effort to hold back all the cries he had wanted to let out since that night. His older brother was watching him concernedly, unsure of what would be the next step to take. Was that really it? This wasn’t how the wrath of a demon was supposed to work. His other brothers had destroyed entire rooms for much less, and Lucifer himself had started a war to defend the honor of their sister. The dim flames remained dancing atop of Mammon’s shoulders, they had lost almost all their color, and the intensity of their light was just pathetic. Something was not right, physically, with Mammon; needless to say, Lucifer was determined to find out what it was, he needed to fix it, he needed to help him. First step was to get him to stop crying, and possibly take a nap; he reached for the handkerchief of his front pocked, however the fabric didn’t seem to be there. Slightly desperate he began to search his surroundings, and instinctively reached for the drawer of the nightstand to pull it open.</p><p>His chest crushed instantly at the sight. It was a bit of a mess, useless things being shoved in it without a reason, but one of them stood out for its oddity. A crystal bottle, the size of a soda can, with the words ‘Holy water’ written on it and a transparent liquid laying inside. Lucifer’s face went pale with terror. The bottle was consumed past half of its capacity. He turned immediately to the sobbing man next to him. <em>“Mammon. What have you been using this for?” </em>He said with an exasperated tone. Mammon stared teary-eyed at him, his arms had reached each of his own sides in a gentle hug, an attempt to comfort himself. <em>“I’ve… I’ve been drinking it. Not big intakes, though. Simeon talked about how baptism is meant to be the first step towards forgiveness, that it gets rid of the original sin after humans are born. I just figured, if it’s meant to relief sins, it could help me control my greed.”</em> Mammon’s eyes had fixed somewhere else, his cheeks tinted pink from the crying as he spoke.</p><p><em>“Are you fucking stupid?”</em> Lucifer spurted out with clear anger in his voice. There were odd occasions when he cursed, especially outside their group chat, and whenever he did, it was because a boundary had been broken. <em>“Do you have any idea what this can do to you?”</em> he kept yelling as he stood up and grabbed his younger brother by the collar of his shirt <em>“We’re made of sins, created and fed by them. What do you think is going to happen to you if you cleanse your soul of it, Mammon?! Are you that stupid that you’re not able to think about the consequences of your actions?!”</em> Mammon winced in pain when Lucifer’s tug forced him off the bed. His brother’s eyes were glimmering a bright scarlet. <em>“You think I don’t know it, Lucifer?! You think I would have tried this if I thought there was any other way?! This damned sin is the reason she dumped me! My own nature is the thing keeping us apart! If I could just get rid of it, if I could just get it under control, then I would be able fix it. I know I can!” </em>Mammon had begun to squirm, weakly nonetheless, as he screamed back at Lucifer.</p><p><em>“Stop being so blind Mammon. Are you listening to yourself? You say you want to stop being greedy. But isn’t what you’re doing right now the greediest deed of them all?”</em> Lucifer loosened his grip on the fabric of Mammon’s clothes, allowing him to fall back down onto the bed. The tan boy dragged himself further on the mattress to avoid being within his brother’s reach. Lucifer stood in place, he was not looking to beat him up again, he just wanted him to understand. He <em>needed</em> him to understand. <em>“You are doing reckless things like drinking this demon poison, making your family and caring ex-girlfriend worried sick because of your behavior, keeping everyone on their toes day and night, only because you want a girl back?” </em>his words were sharp and aimed. Mammon sobbed as he started to speak <em>“I love her, Lucifer.”</em> He only managed to mutter. There was horror drawn on his eyes, an expression that hurt Lucifer to his core. Was he <em>that</em> scared of him? He sighed yet again and headed back to sit onto the bed, he kept his distance from Mammon, but his expression had turned gentler, a supportive demeanor that wasn’t quite characteristic of him. <em>“I know you do, Mammon, and I promise you if things were different, I would be the first one to bless your union. But they are not. You love her, and then what? She’ll have to go back to her world eventually. Were you going to follow her there? I’m pretty sure her family would have been thrilled she was dating a devil. Perhaps, marriage in the near future? Ah, but marriage is a sacrament, the church of our father wouldn’t necessarily love the idea of allowing you to get involved in something like that, right?” </em>his tone was firm, but still understanding. <em>“We hadn’t started thinking ‘bout all that.”</em> Mammon shamefully answered.<em> “Exactly, Mammon. You did not think about all that. I bet you didn’t think about the life span difference either, did you? You would see her grow old while you wouldn’t have aged a minute. Or if you wished to breed someday, you think her frail body could have been able to take it? What about when she had to meet your wrath? And hell forbids you land it upon her, but what then? Can’t you see it? We’re made for chaos, that’s our part to play in this universal balance that Diavolo so desperately wants to keep intact, and, unfortunately, we’re on the side of the scale that humans have always believed to be shameful, and dreaded since the beginning of times. I wish it was different, I honestly do, but because of what we are, there’s no way for love to triumph, and you wanting to force it to, at expense of your family’s concern, your own health and safety, and the future of your beloved, is the biggest display of greed you’ve ever made. If you mean what you said, if you truly want redemption, start right now. Let this go. If you really love her, let her go.”</em> </p><p>Mammon brought the back of his hand to his lips, but the sobs kept slipping uncontrollably out of his mouth. Lucifer was right, as usual, about everything he had said. In the back of his mind Mammon knew it, he knew the second he had betrayed your trust that things wouldn’t be the same, not soon, not ever. He was aware it would end sooner or later. He would have rather it was way later, though. His body seemed to be giving in. His back was arching and his limbs trembling. He leaned on his side, letting his head fall onto Lucifer’s lap. As a mere instinct, the older removed his gloves and set them aside, then he guided his hands to land on Mammon’s head, kindly entangling his fingers in the locks of his messy hair. <em>“Can I ask you something, Lucifer?”</em> Mammon exclaimed as he continued to cry against his brother’s thighs. <em>“Sure. What’s the matter?”</em>  he gave in to his request. <em>“Did you know it would end up like this?”</em> Mammon’s voice was slightly whinny, almost as if he was scared to ask that question. Lucifer was quiet momentarily. <em>“No.”</em> he lied <em>“And I wished for it to last. Turns out happiness is a good look on you.”</em>  The second part of his answer was perfectly candid.</p><p>Lucifer wasn’t sure when Mammon had fallen asleep, only that he was snoring into his pants, drool coming out of his mouth, trembling every now and then. He felt slightly disgusted, sure, but not one moment did he feel the need to leave. He was going to be there for his brother, drool and all. He was taking comfort in knowing that Mammon was going to be okay, with the holy water out of his system, his usual demeanor would slowly come back, and his strength would be replenished. Although he felt blissful, in a sense, he couldn’t help but to think deeper about the question his brother had asked him a few hours before. ‘Did you know it would end up like this?’, somehow, that sentence reminded him of an old Latin American proverb that he read on a book long ago <em>«Más sabe el diablo por viejo, que por diablo.»</em> It literally translated to ‘The devil knows more for being old, than for being the devil.’, and an equivalent would be ‘with age comes wisdom’. Lucifer had been around since the beginning of times; he had seen it all. From grace to doom, from order to chaos, from joy to pain. As he stared into the sleeping face of his younger brother a few tears formed in his eyes, and his voice came out as a vague whisper.</p><p><em>“I just hope I’m not old enough to know how this will end.” </em>He said before drifting off into unconsciousness.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lucifer mystery? solved. I personally don't blame him for anything, but he's a drama queen and feels the need to take responsibility for everything his brothers do. </p><p>Now, many of you expressed your thoughts about forgiving Mammon before, so now I ask, knowing all that you know now about him, is he still unworthy of forgiveness? </p><p>Even if you forgive him, could you go back to him? </p><p>I've been reading a lot on how to fix relationships that were broken due to cheating, so I'm curious about what the general opinion is.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Problems of Storge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>With Mammon ignoring you shamelessly, you start to feel a bit neglected. Solomon is there to bring a shoulder as always, until Asmo shows up to  shake the night up.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>First of all, I want to apologize for having taken so long to post this chapter. It was a tough week, and on top of that, my brain decided to forget everything I knew about writing. Still, I feel like this is not of my best work, but I hope you guys enjoy this reading. </p><p>that said, I love Solomon, shady and all. Also, Mammon is probably the cutest moron to exist.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You know that warm feeling at the pit of your stomach? The one you get after being away from home for too long, for work, on a trip, or just the path life had taken you on, and then finally being back to the place that brought you the most peace. That’s how moving again into the house of lamentation had felt like. The brothers fixed their schedules to help you transport the boxes. They also arranged a little welcome back party for you; from drinks to food, and even dessert, a banquet made by their own hands to satisfy your every crave. It felt so nice to be appreciated, missed, and longed for. One complaint? During the whole thing, and even days later, Mammon was nowhere to be found.</p><p>Lucifer had explained to you that he was feeling a bit sick, therefore he would only get in the way and it was better if he just stayed in. You understood that one part and pushed your concerns to the back of your mind, for Lucifer to be telling you to relax, you were sure it meant he had it all under control. You started to doubt, though, after having barely exchanged words with Mammon for the past three weeks. He started getting up earlier, so the second you arrived for breakfast he was already on his way out. In class, when you happened to share a schedule, he would sit next to any of his brothers instead of you, you even could have sworn seeing him ask Belphie to switch places once. Hanging out together was out of the question; whenever you brought up a group activity, he always seemed to be busy, sure, he always said he was busy, but you knew it was just a frontage, and he tagged along anyway, but the last few times he really wouldn’t join you, no matter how casual the plan was, or how many people were involved.</p><p>You confronted Lucifer about it, and his sole response was <em>“He has right to his own space, isn’t that redacted on the contract?”</em> that smug, smartass bastard; you hated it when he was right, which was almost always. You then turned to the rest of the people Mammon was related to, but each brother either did his best to dodge the question, or simply denied having any knowledge of the situation. Whatever the reason was, it had had you on edge the whole week, and whenever a long night of complaining was due, there was only one man to call.</p><p><em>“I just don’t get it, Solomon. He’s the one who asked me to stay friends, and now he just ignores me?” </em>you whined. Having been away from the House a Lamentation, in a place that wasn’t even part of your world in the first place, Solomon was the closest thing to home you had. Your relationship was tighter than ever, from a simple chit chat to conversations about the meaning of the universe, he had become your ride or die in the Devildom. <em>“I think he’s just trying to get over you.”</em>  He replied, dryly, while he fidgeted with the straw of his cocktail. You dropped your head at his response, literally, your cheek landed on the cold wood of the bar counter, your face still pointed in the direction where he was sitting. The bar where you had first become friends, or at least closer friends, had become your little lair, whenever any of you had something important to say, that raggedy demon club was your go-to option. <em>“Can’t he do it faster? There are so many things I want to show him, and so many places I want to go with him.”</em>  Your tone was still slightly childish, like a toddler being denied a toy to play with.</p><p>Solomon reached across to land a hand on your upper back, his touch was gentle and soothing as he caressed the fabric of your blouse comfortingly. You had decided not to start drinking so early, the young sorcerer had used up enough of his magic dealing with your intoxicated personality, and it didn’t matter how much you knew he’s got your back, you were not about to abuse him each time you went out. <em>“Sounds to me like someone else also has some moving on to do. I take it then, you’re no longer mad at him?”</em> his questioning tone bordered in judgmental; however, his head had poked lower to meet your eyesight, eyes glimmering with sheer curiosity. You simply huffed your cheeks, and the silence that your action followed created a certain awkward atmosphere. <em>“You remember that one time you slept over while I was crying over him?”</em> you said and he hummed in agreement <em>“You said that night that you didn’t want to leave me alone, not because you were afraid I was going to do something stupid, but because you were afraid I was going to think something stupid.”</em> He was watching you talk with your head still flush against the surface of the bar. He wasn’t quite sure where your train of thought was going, but whenever that happened, he knew it would always have at least one interesting stop. <em>“You’ve been having stupid thoughts?”</em> he answered. You nodded with a bit of shyness. <em>“I know I should be mad at him; but I can’t help but feel angry at the mysterious hacker man that sent me that video. My mind wanders from time to time, and somehow, I always end up asking myself the same question. If I’d never seen that video, if Mammon had kept it quiet as he planned to, and if things hadn’t gone down the way they went, could we have made it?”</em>  your lips formed in a pout after you stopped talking. It was a saddening question, and it annoyed you how, the more Mammon ignored you, the more you found yourself asking it again. Solomon diverted his gaze, letting it focus on the beverage between his fingers instead. He let out a deep sigh. <em>“Don’t you think it’s better you found out? Imagine if the information had gotten to you after a couple years, wouldn’t the lying have made it worse? Mayhap, the only reason you are not mad at him right now, after simply two months of being apart, is because you knew in the moment you were supposed to.” </em> He had retracted his hand and let it fall to his side. He looked rather uncomfortable. You guessed you had probably touched a nerve, considering his own scarred past. <em>“You always go quantum physics on me to leave me speechless, a simple ‘shut up’ could have been enough”</em> your little joke made the two of you chuckle, and finally the tense air had once again dissipated; seeing his relaxed demeanor you decided to continue <em>“Don’t you have like a random purple drink that can help me forget? Like, amnesia Gatorade or something like that?”</em> he once again broke into a laugh at your words. He had tried to teach you a thing or two about magic, especially potions, but seeing you couldn’t even memorize the appropriate terms he’d given up, still, he found very amusing the way you referred to him and his job, and anything vaguely related to mysticism. “<em>As a matter of fact, I do. But I choose to refrain myself from giving it to you.”</em> His head had turned to face you once again. <em>“If you were to forget about the video, it would also delete the memories of that one night we spent together, and I would like to think that our friendship was a blessing to come out of the chaos that this realm has made us fall into. If I were to lose you right now, I’d certainly be crushed.”</em> He said with a mischievous smile, typical of him, that gave certain ambiguity to his words, making it hard to pick up whether he was kidding or simply having a real moment with you. <em>“Solomon, if I fall in love with another demon, you don’t think twice and punch me in the face, alright?”</em> you said with the sternest tone you had, he answered with yet another giggle. <em>“Of course, sweetheart, you know I always got your back.” </em></p><p>The air that surrounded you two would put any romance novel to shame. The adoration in your stares, the love in your words, the softness in your souls. It seemed like the perfect moment for a deep bond to be formed, a big romantic gesture, or a passionate kiss, or so it would have been if you had any sort of amorous feelings towards Solomon. Too bad you didn’t. That lovey-dovey façade both of you put on was simply for the entertainment of others; to elaborate, demons were <em>exhaustive</em>, and having incubi and succubus throwing themselves at you twenty-four-seven had begun to wear you down. The rumor of your relationship got out on its own, you just never took the time to deny it, and you didn’t care, neither did Solomon, honestly, it kept creepers away from both of you, and gave you the opportunity to hang out without constantly being bothered.</p><p><em>“Well, well, lucky of us to find two little lovebirds out in the wild”</em> Asmodeus’s words made both of you almost snap your necks as you turned in his direction, but only <em>your</em> body froze in place when your eyes landed on the man standing beside him. Mammon stood at his right, looking as handsome as ever, his tan skin glistened with a bit of sweat, his loyal jacket hung from his shoulders, and his ringed up hands rested at his hips. Your body relaxed the moment he shot you a smile, well, every part of your body except for your heart pounding into your chest. <em>“What are a couple of heir demons doing in our little peasant pub?” </em>Solomon turned his whole body around to be facing the two guys instead and, having passed a pair of seconds, you mimicked his actions. <em>“Glad you ask, my lord, we are out on the hunt. Mammon here was sick for a couple weeks, and so, Lucifer allowed him one a weekend of unlimited Goldie to cheer him up. Being the adorable big brother he is, he offered to pay for today’s adventure, and so we came here looking for a couple others to join us in our… party.”</em> There was an insinuating tone in the way he spoke his last words. <em>“Ya! Ya! Speak for yourself! I ain’t hunting nothin’! I just came here for their bottomless Bloodgarita, and this place has the best goblin nachos in the Devildom, you guys tried’em yet? Wanna get a share? On me!”</em> Mammon yelled as Asmo rested a hand on his shoulders, asking for some sort of support to his claims; he then took out the golden-coated credit card he almost never got to hold between his fingers, and happily waved it in your direction, his bright smile seeming blinding in your eyes.</p><p>Solomon exchanged a look with you, almost asking for permission; you hit him with a smitten smile, and he sort of braced himself, minutes ago you were complaining about Mammon not being around you, and suddenly he appeared ready to party with you, just like old times. In Solomon’s brain, this could only end in utter disaster. However, as he had said time and again, he would do anything to keep that smile on your face. <em>“Sure. We always sit at the bar, but a booth wouldn’t be bad for a change.”</em> You answered. Your sight was locked on Mammon, with a shine on your eyes you stared at him, and your smile spread ear to ear caused his face to grow slightly red.</p><p>Asmo chose a table at the corner of the establishment. In his words, ‘it gave him a broader look of the playground’, and so, you began to hang out with the second born for the first time in a long time. Talking about school mishaps, house problems, and whatever other triviality your brains came up with. Solomon was smart enough to sit between you and Mammon, and he constantly had an eye on how much demonus you were introducing in your body, he would let you know with a light tap on your wrist that it was time to slow down and, like a charm, you unknowingly did every time. <em>“You’ve been awfully uninterested, Asmodeus. Surprising of you.”</em> Solomon sticked his sentence when the laughter caught a small break. <em>“Well, sweet cheeks, that’s because nothing interesting enough has come through that door”</em> his attention got snatched the moment a demoness and two male demons walked into the bar. They strutted as if they owned the place, and, as it turned out, they actually did. Asmo recognized the chiseled features and quickly linked them to some of the biggest shots in the Devildom. Needless to say, his preys for the night had been chosen. <em>“Scratch that, it’s game time. Alright, Solomon, Mammon, I need a wingman”</em> he said as he stole glances from both of the mentioned men. <em>“Don’t look at me.”</em> Mammon quickly exclaimed “<em>I just ordered another serve of goblin nachos, and if I leave them here unattended, a certain someone will eat all the good meat chunks”</em> he said in a playful tone as he looked in your direction. You pretended to be offended and a giggle came out of him. <em>“Didn’t take you for someone who needed a wingman, Asmodeus. I’d put my hands on the fire and say you could seduce that demoness on your own.”</em> Solomon answered as he felt the charming gaze basically eating him up with plead. “<em>God, I know that, Solomon. I don’t need you to help me seduce the demoness, I need you to distract her so I can seduce her brothers.”</em> Solomon appeared disgusted at such twisted, and somewhat evil, plan; yet all he could do was sigh in defeat. You had to scoot over to let him out of the booth, and the two of you who remained on the table watched them walk away until they blended with the crowd at the other side of the bar.</p><p>The second they were gone an overwhelming silence fell upon you. You guessed it was still weird for Mammon to be alone with you, and there was not a statute of limitations on the contract you had signed, so he was probably being extra careful. Your brain was pressing itself in search for a topic to bring up. Actually, you had plenty; you had accumulated an extensive list of things you wanted to tell him, but for some reason none of them seemed to pop up, or seemed wildly inappropriate to talk about on your very first one-on-one meeting after months of having broken up. <em>“Hey.”</em> He finally spoke up when he saw the skin between your eyebrows furrowing for a prolonged period of time. <em>“You want a bottomless Bloodgarita? My treat, or, well, Lucifer’s treat” </em>he smiled faintly in your direction. <em>“Y-Yes. I’d love one.”</em> You answered nervously. He nodded to himself and called for the waiter’s attention, it took only a movement of his hand for them to understand what Mammon wanted. The couple minutes of silence had only added to your wrecking nerves, luckily, the waiter had taken your table as first priority, and shortly after you had a glass of Bloodgarita in front of you. You took a quick, curious sip. It burned your throat a bit, but so had tequila until you got used to it.</p><p><em>“It’s good, right?” </em>Mammon broke the silence again; it was a bit annoying how he managed to do that so easily, and yet you found yourself struggling to even respond to his attempts. “<em>It is. But if you like it so much, how come you have only ordered one glass?”</em> you replied curiously. <em>“Oh, you know, ‘cause it’s a bottomless cocktail.”</em> he answered. You scrunched your face in confusion. <em>“Yeah, that means you drink, and when you’re done, you get more for free.”</em> You said with still a bit of unclearness in your tone. Mammon couldn’t help but to break into a loud laugh. <em>“Man, partying in the human world sounds like a drag. No, idiot, the glass actually has a spell on it that makes it bottomless, meaning it’s never ending.”</em> You squinted your eyes skeptically at his words. It was possible, you knew that, since you were in a world where magic was a common thing, and also you got to eat things like ‘goblin nachos’, but your brain was having a hard time grasping the concept. You brought the glass to your lips, both hands holding it still, and began to swallow; one, two, five, eight, ten, fifteen gulps?! And it still kept coming. Your surprise was such you couldn’t help the raising of your tone as you directed yourself to Mammon <em>“Mammon! It’s bottomless! It doesn’t end! Ever!”</em> you told him excitedly. Again, he laughed from the other side of the booth; out of excitement for your new-found trick, you scooted closer to him, as if you were going to say something else, but having been apart for what felt like too long, and suddenly having his presence just a couple of feet away from you, had wiped your mind clean like a windshield. You simply stared at each other, but there was no awkwardness around you, in fact, it just felt so warm and familiar you’d forgotten you were at a public place, and indeed not in the intimacy of your room.</p><p><em>“So, listen.”</em> He began to say once again. <em>“There’s something I want to tell you.”</em> He brought the cup back to his lips to steal a quick sip as he paused. Truth be told, he was trying to keep together the small amount of courage he had gathered. You, on the other hand, were sinking onto your own seat, nails digging against the fabric of the booth as you waited for the worst or, to be put in other words, the unknown. <em>“I know we have put this behind us, and you don’t have to answer to what I’m gonna say, but I really wanted you to know this. The mistake I made, it had nothing to do with you, alright? You are probably the most amazing being I’ve met in my life, demons and angels included. You’re strong, capable, funny, relentless, and that goes without mentioning that I think you’re the prettiest human I’ve ever met. You were more than enough to me, I dare say you were all, actually. So, don’t let that brain of yours, that I know can be very dumb at times, ever convince you that there’s something wrong with you, got it? I’ll beat it up if it ever does.”</em> He had not looked at you at any second, his eyes were fixed on a random spot the whole time. His cheeks were reddened, and his tone was almost like a grumble, kind of as if he was struggling to find the words he had rehearsed for weeks before. You couldn’t stop blinking, trying to convince yourself it was a construction of your own mind, if you had had trouble understanding bottomless bloodgaritas, understanding an apologizing Mammon was even harder. “<em>Where is all this coming from?”</em> not what you truly wanted to ask, but rather what managed to come out at a time like that. Your question had clearly caught him off guard; his expression was no longer troubled, rather sad instead, his sight dropped, and his hands landed on his thighs a bit ashamedly. <em>“You see, after we broke up, I wanted to find out if there was a real way to fix things. Satan lent me a book on how to repair relationships damaged by cheating, it was written by some human doctor that helped couples n’ stuff. It said to some it took up to a year, so I kinda lost all hope. But one of the things he wrote pulled at my heartstrings. He said that rebuilding the trust as a couple was important, but so was rebuilding the confidence of the person who was cheated on. It said the person could develop self-esteem issues and the feeling that they weren’t good enough, and that could affect the healing process or affect the person in future relationships. It made me feel like absolute crap, thinking that you could be going through that. Ultimately, I want you to be happy, so I wanted you to know this. You’re incredible, and you gotta believe that forever.” </em>His words seemed to be sincere, more honest than you’ve ever heard him speak. It was weird, there was something off about him since his fight with Lucifer. Not bad, though, just unknown, and it sort of intrigued you, as you constantly took pride on knowing Mammon better than anyone, it felt like a betrayal to be just now meeting another side of him. Your eyes swelled up with tears, but you used a couple sips off your cocktail to swallow them back. “<em>Thank you. It means a lot.”</em> You said before silenced reigned once again.</p><p>“<em>Okay, I think we’re ready.”</em> You suddenly blurted out. <em>“R-Ready for what?”</em> he answered with a bit of a frightened expression. Your hands landed on the table resolutely, and your head raised so you would be looking at him clearly<em> “Relationship truth or dare.”</em> You stated. Mammon’s expression was beyond confused, and his fingers clung to his glass as he tried to figure you out. “<em>Just what in the hell are you talking about?”</em> he brought himself to ask. <em>“Look, I don’t have many previous boyfriends who are my friends, but in the human world a friend of mine told me that he played relationship truth or dare with his exes, and things seemed to get better between them after all the doubts and resentment was cleared up. Rules are simple, we get turns to ask the other if they want to say the truth or receive a dare, if the person refuses to do as they are told or answer the question earnestly, they have to drink up, also, if the other person suspects you are lying when answering the question, you also have to drink up. The questions can only be about our relationship, the dares can be about whatever, but I’m <span class="u">lazy</span> to move so let’s limit it to the bar. So, <span class="u">are</span> you in? Or are you chicken?” </em>you asked him with a daring look on your face. He didn’t know what the expression you had used meant, at all, but by the expression you’d showed him, he knew damn well you were trying to make him prove his bravery. <em>“Alright I’m in! and to prove you I’m not chicken I will let you go first!”</em> he answered almost yelling. He had completely misused the expression and it made you laugh, but the game was on and there was no room for distractions <em>“Truth or dare?”</em> you asked him. <em>“Truth.”</em> He answered undoubtedly. <em>“What was the part of my body that you liked the most?”</em> you asked as you watched him nearly choke on his own saliva in embarrassment; he took a couple of seconds before responding. “<em>Your hips.”</em> He almost muttered. You wanted to say something back, mostly to tease him, but he cut you short as he quickly shouted <em>“My turn! Truth or dare?!”</em> you took a second to consider. <em>“Truth. I’ll let you have payback.”</em> You answered him with a devilish smile. <em>“Did you think I was annoying at times?”</em> his cheeks never changed their cherry color, he seemed nervous, even, to hear the answer. You playfully brought the glass to your lips, pretending to drink with the intention to dodge the question according to the rules, and you heard a complaining whine from him in return. It was so cute how much he wanted to know, that you decided to give in. <em>“You had a couple of annoying habits, like, the fact that you would promise something fun, and then we wouldn’t do it because you’d ran out of cash, or when you did things just to spite Lucifer, it was a bit too much at times , and I felt that we were wasting our time, but in general, no, I didn’t think you were annoying, why would I date someone who annoys me?” </em>you pleased him with your response. <em>“Alrighty, then. Truth or dare, Mammon?”</em> you asked again. <em>“Dare.”</em> He answered. You pretended to ponder, but in fact, you knew exactly what you wanted. <em>“Let me hold goldie for ten minutes.”</em> His heart seemed to jump out of his chest at your words; he grabbed the plastic rectangle and held it close to his heart as he looked at you with a terrified expression <em>“W-What are you going to do to her?”</em> he stuttered. <em>“Oh, come on, Mammon! I’m not Lucifer, I’m not going to cut her in half.”</em> You complained. He sighed in defeat, it was either that or putting more alcohol in his body, and he was already a little impaired, so he was not about to risk it. With a shaky hand he held the card up to you, and you took it with care, holding it secure against your lap. <em>“Okay, okay, let’s move on or I’ll go crazy thinking about Goldie. Truth or dare?”</em> he grumbled. <em>“Truth.”</em> You said as you playfully cuddled the card to your chest. <em>“Is sex better with demons or humans?”</em> your jaw dropped, and your face flushed. You had to bring a hand to your face to avoid spitting out of laughter. You brought the glass to your lips, trying to swallow down the nervousness. However, to Mammon, you were trying to avoid his question again <em>“Come on! You had fun, right? We got yelled at so much for being noisy that I can just assume you were enjoying it.”</em> He whined. You hurried to swallow the liquid that remained in your mouth and waved a hand in his direction <em>“Of course the sex was good!”</em> you yelled without meaning to. A couple of heads turned towards you two, and both had sunk further onto the booth embarrassedly, with a couple of giggles on the side <em>“It was really good, Mammon. But you were a bit selfish at times, like, after you were done and I wasn’t, it was a nuisance to deal with me.” </em>You said earnestly, but you didn’t expect him to cross his arms over his chest and furrow his brows, looking clearly annoyed. <em>“Well, humans are too frail, so I couldn’t go all the way most of the time. Just so you know, I am even greater in bed than what ya got to experience!”</em> just as he finished bragging, your ego got a bit affected as well; you formed a grimace offendedly, your tone turning slightly bothered. <em>“You know what? I’ll add to my previous answer, your arrogance annoyed me.”</em> You grumbled. <em>“Well, ya were always acting lovey towards my brothers and that always pissed me off! I told you and you didn’t care! Your personality was so cheery, and easy-going, and it clearly annoyed me, too!” </em>he almost yelled back at you “<em>You never told me anything, Mammon! You left crumbs out and expected me to figure everything out myself! Like some lame Hansel and Gretel game! That’s why we took so long to start dating! Even when I liked you since day one!”</em> you blurted out angrily and proceeded to look away after you were done. You huffed your cheeks in attempt to blow away the embarrassment. Across the table, Mammon looked surprised, and a sudden wave of guilt caused him to drop his face once again. <em>“You’re nice to everyone, so you became popular very quickly. It made me a bit insecure, alright? But I also liked you since day one. I just never thought you were actually interested in me.”</em> He fidgeted with his fingers under the table. You couldn’t feel mad, nor annoyed, because there it was, the new, sincere, and intriguing side of Mammon. You broke into a small giggle, your sight turning back at him at last. <em>“Well, I guess only relationship truth or dare could bring up the fact that my whole personality annoyed you, right?” </em>you said teasingly <em>“Man, I would have never found out you were left unsatisfied in bed if it wasn’t for this game”</em> he teased back. You shared a chuckle and decided to have a sip of your respective drinks<em>. “How come we didn’t see all these problems back then? We are so different; of course, it was bound to end in disaster.”</em> You said in between quick laughs. He took a second to take you in, so beautiful, a bit tipsy, laughing so soundly; he felt so different since his encounter with Lucifer, the way he saw his own existence had changed completely, and it was hard, but peaceful, to be able to say or do the right thing. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly <em>“We were in love. Ya’ know, sometimes you oversee things when you love someone, only because you want to keep being with them.”</em> His eyes never left you as he spoke, and you couldn’t help the bright, yet rather sad, smile that appeared on your face. It had been a while since you last felt your heart pound so eagerly, and last time it did, it also had been because of Mammon. <em>“Were?”</em> you asked with curiosity, even when deep down, in the warmth that flooded your stomach, you already knew the answer. He stayed silent, but you could tell he was trying to get even closer, and unconsciously you were too, but before your faces were in a more intimate position, a hard, slightly painful, grip on your shoulder made you flinch back against the back of your seat. Solomon smiled rather darkly at you from the outside of the booth. <em>“It’s getting late, shouldn’t we head home?”</em> he said with a tone that you were having trouble deciphering. You shrugged it off and nodded. You took a second to hand Mammon his credit card back, and immediately slid off the booth. “<em>You go ahead and get us a Hellber, I’ll take care of the check.”</em> He said as he held a hand to help you out. You walked outside, giving up to his command, and both men stared as you disappeared behind the entrance door.</p><p>Solomon and Mammon had no ties, other than you, of course, and it could be seen on the way they stood silently around each other, almost awkwardly. Mammon was fixed on trying to put his head in order, it still felt light, and a bit intoxicated, but it was not the Bloodgarita’s doing, and he was well aware of that. <em>“They are just rumors. There’s nothing between us.”</em> Solomon said resolutely as to break the annoying silence, his fingers roaming around his wallet, counting the money that he had destined for the check. Mammon was startled by his words, and a bit embarrassed to have been so transparent. <em>“Whoever she dates or not, is none of my business.”</em> He growled towards Solomon <em>“I’m just gonna ask ya, Solomon, to please take good care of her</em>.” He added. The young wizard let out a content sigh, and there was a brief show of relief on his face before his expression turned concerned again. <em>“I got that down, don’t worry.”</em> He turned around, a stern stare drilling Mammon down. <em>“But who’s taking care of you, Mammon?”</em> his words forced Mammon to divert his gaze, and he sighed to himself. Neither expected an answer to the question, hence why Solomon laid a couple bills down on the table and headed up to join you.  </p><p>You were already waiting inside the car that you had ordered, and you cooed to him to come in. He did. You were sitting at opposite ends of the vehicle, and it was odd to feel such a big distance between you. He was quiet. His eyes fixed on the passing scenery of dead trees and reddish bushes. You stole a glance from him. He was barely paying attention to anything. You figured he was upset, he had spent months comforting you over the man you were just about to kiss if he hadn’t stopped you, that seemed like a good enough thing to be sulking over.<em> “It meant nothing, the thing with Mammon. We started reminiscing and we got carried away, that’s it.”</em> You disturbed the silence. However, you got no response back. He kept absentmindedly tapping his thigh, with his sight still on the window. You were starting to get worried, thinking perhaps he didn’t hear you. You were going to start talking again when he abruptly turned his head toward you. <em>“You know I’m always on your side, right? That I would do anything for your sake.”</em> he said out of the blue. You blinked confusedly <em>“Of course, Solomon, but where is this coming from?”</em> you answered with mixed feelings stuck in your throat. <em>“And If I thought I made a mistake, you wouldn’t hate me, correct?”</em> his expression was firm, but there was a hint of something in his eyes, something you could only describe as fear. <em>“Mon, you’re making me nervous.”</em> You said with your own share of anxiety crippling over your body.</p><p>Solomon’s body tensed up; you could see it on the way his fists curled, and his nails dug into his palms. His breath seemed to get faster by the second, and his eyelashes fluttered quickly. He took a deep breath in before dropping the words that would make your world shatter to dust.</p><p>
  <em>“I'm the hacker-man. I was the one who sent you that video.” </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oooooh was this plot twist worth the wait? Shady baby is always shady. Personally, I think this raises a bunch of questions for MC, and man, I would be bummed too. Buuuut, does Solomon have any reason to have done that? We will find out! or not!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. In terms of guilt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You're still mad as hell at Solomon. Weirdly enough, the person who comforts him about your fight is Mammon himself.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I took so long to post this ep I'm so sorry!!!! I hope you enjoy this one this time. The fic hit 4k! thank you for reading and enjoying this ride with me. It was Mammon's birthday recently and I wrote something that I might post later (It's not finished). Happy birthday to our beloved idiot!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Men have studied for ages the art of apologizing to a woman they hurt, and after millenniums of wisdom passed down from generation to generation, they still have no idea how to make a girl forgive them. Solomon, king and all, was no exception to the rule. It had been a week since you basically jumped off a moving car just to avoid being in the same space as him; you had been ignoring his calls, not opening his texts, and refusing his visits, yet the man was relentless. Every day after school, even when you had deliberately ditched him on the building halls all week, he would show up at the foot of your door with a different gift, trying to figure out what was the key to your mercy, and hoping you would finally give him a minute of  your time to elaborate on the shocking confession he had made to you nights ago; and day after day, you just wouldn’t.</p><p>As per custom, since it had basically become one, he was knocking on the gigantic entrance doors that protected the House of Lamentation. Asmodeus was the one on turn to let him in. He welcomed him with a quick hug, followed by a mocking chuckle noticing the box between his hands <em>“I don’t think jewelry is the way to go with this particular girl, Solomon” </em>he said in his particularly upbeat tone. “<em>I’m aware, Asmodeus. However, none of my other options seemed to work, and I’m running out of ideas. Beel inhaled the chocolates I left for her, Levi ‘borrowed’ the videogame I got her, Satan is probably reading the romance novel I bought because I know she likes it, I’m pretty sure the new flower vase at the entrance was placed there by Lucifer after she refused to accept them from me, Belphegor adopted the plushie I brought a couple days ago, and I take it that color on your lips is the lipstick I left here yesterday for her, isn’t it?”</em> he answered with a slightly bothered tone. <em>“And now you’ve decided jewelry for Mammon to steal?” </em>Asmo teased once again. “<em>You seem to know well everyone in this house except for her.”</em> He earned a roll of the eyes from Solomon, who decided to simply brush off the comment. <em>“Is she in her room?”</em> he asked. <em>“She is. You need to know, though, since yesterday you almost made it through her door, she increased security.”</em> Asmodeus whistled, and without elaboration he headed outside, leaving Solomon dumbfounded standing in the main hall. He let out a big sigh and headed to your room instead; he was mentally preparing for the worst, perhaps you’d gotten Satan to curse the doorknob to turn him into a frog if he tried to open the door, or his mere presence would summon one of Levi’s endless loyal monsters he had under his command, or, if  you were feeling creative, there would be a classic fool-proof human prank where he would open the door and a bucket of paint would fall onto his head. In fact, the scenarios his powerful imagination was coming up with were way cooler than what he actually saw.</p><p>Beelzebub and Belphegor were standing at your door, one on each side, wearing the closest they had to black suits, tie and all, and a pair of sunglasses that matched the dark color of their clothing. They stood straight, sight never failing to be forward with expressionless faces. Solomon took a couple of doubtful steps towards the entrance of your room, only to be stopped by Belphie’s hand against his chest, his demeanor still unchanged. <em>“Sorry, sir, madame stated no unauthorized personnel can enter her room.”</em> Belphegor said with a monotone but demanding tone. <em>‘Madame?’</em> Solomon thought to himself. <em>“What are you two supposed to be?”</em> He brought himself to ask. “We’re madame’s bodyguards. She feared for her safety, so we provide protection.” Beelzebub answered. His tone was the same as Belphegor’s. Solomon couldn’t hold back a slight chuckle. Maybe if you were in the mood to joke like that, you would be in the mood to hear him out<em>. “Well, I pose no threat to madame, so I hope you will allow me to pass.”</em> He played along. As he talked, he attempted to direct himself into your room, but, before he could grab the doorknob, the twins closed the gap between their bodies, making it impossible to even reach the entry. <em>“Apologies. Only personnel authorized by madame can enter this room”</em> they said in unison and without even bothering to look down at Solomon.</p><p>The young sorcerer had begun to visibly lose his cool. He brought his fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath in to help himself relax. He was trying to figure out what to do, or if there was even a way to fool the ‘bodyguards’ standing before him. Beel could be bribed, but Belphegor? It was hard enough to understand his motivation to play along with something so ridiculous. His mind was circling tirelessly, but before burnt toast smell started coming out of his ears, a gentle touch on his shoulder snapped him out of his spiral of thoughts. <em>“Solomon, it’s heartwarming to see you have not given up just yet. Such a loyal and dedicated friend. You do live up to the praises your kingdom offers to you.” </em>Simeon smiled brightly at him. Luke stood by his side as always, slightly amused by the looks of Belphegor and Beelzebub. <em>“Hey, Simeon. What are you doing here?”</em> Solomon asked after he finally managed to put his guard down. <em>“Madame asked us to come.”</em> The older angel replied. ‘Madame?’ Solomon asked himself again. He brushed the thought off, though. <em>“How’s she?”</em> he continued. <em>“Bummed.”</em> The angel began to explain <em>“Just like I’m guessing you are, too.”</em> He added. Solomon could only let out a bit sigh. He nodded in response, part of it was also assurance to himself. <em>“Do you think you can get her to, at least, let me explain?”</em> the young royal pleaded with begging eyes. <em>“Not my job, nor my place. You know better, Solomon.”</em> Simeon’s words, as per usual, had not a hint of hesitation in them, and there was no arguing against his Holy Wisdom, no matter how much it infuriated the white-haired boy. The older angel felt like no words were needed any longer, he headed to the door and gave a slight nod towards the two ‘bodyguards’ who instantly opened the door for him; before he entered, though, he turned his head to check up on Luke, who was motionlessly staring at Solomon. <em>“Luke, are you coming?”</em> he inquired. “<em>In a second. You go ahead, I just need to talk to Solomon”</em> he answered. Simeon silently agreed and disappeared behind the wooden entrance. The young angel took a quick glance at the, very intimidating, pair of demons that guarded the door, and, very wisely, tugged on Solomon’s sleeve to take him into the adjacent corridor instead.</p><p><em>“Odd of you to be asking for a word from me, Luke. Is something the matter?”</em> with a raised eyebrow, and a slightly concerned expression, Solomon blurted out. From Luke, though, there was barely an answer; his cheeks had turned a slight pink, and his feet seemed to dance nervously on their own. He avoided his human’s eyes, letting them drop to the floor instead, as he spoke <em>“You need to tell the truth”</em> he muttered. Solomon was taken aback, surprise written all over his face; he took a second to clear his throat, his tone emotionless as he threaded lightly around the kid’s words. <em>“About what?”</em> he asked. <em>“I don’t know.”</em> Luke immediately continued. <em>“It’s part of my guardian duties to make sure you’re on a righteous path. I can know when you’re doing something wrong, just not exactly what you’re doing wrong. I know you’re lying about something or hiding something. I don’t want to meddle much, you’ve been a great protegee up to now; you are smart and capable, so I’ll give you a pass to do it without my intervention, but if you want to fix the friendship that you hold so dearly, this friendship that began with lies, you need to start by telling the truth.” </em>Luke’s little speech had turned Solomon into a mute. His fingers tightened around the box, that he’d never let go of, just as strongly as he felt the invisible weight crush his chest; without any further word Luke sprinted across the corridor, eager to reach his initial objective: you, and leaving a very confused, thoroughly puzzled Solomon staring at the vintage wallpaper, unsure of how to interpret the words he’d just heard.</p><p>Not every human had the chance to hear their guardian angel tell them to stop fucking up straight to their face. It did seem like a very wise advice, nonetheless. He decided it was time to let go for a bit, perhaps if he gave you the space you so desperately wanted, you’d come around to hearing him out, even if it was only out of sheer curiosity. Luke’s advice still hung around his mind, regardless, and it was nagging him like chihuahua bark, loud, constant, and annoying. He pondered from a second if that was the real meaning behind his nickname. Before he fell into a series of useless thoughts, mostly dog-breeds related, he shook his head and decided to take a quick stroll around the house in search for any of his two close friends. He had a sweet spot for Asmodeus, of course, but Satan could always provide helpful insights, and was the voice of reason to the endless dramatic scenarios Asmo would come up with.</p><p><em>“Solomon?”</em> as the handsome wizard reached the living room, a questioning voice made him stop on his tracks. To be fair, he was looking for a demon, but did it have to be <em>this</em> demon? A pair of curious cyan eyes, framed by white strands of hair, stared at him from behind one of the antique-looking couches. The generally loud laugh that Mammon possessed filled the room within seconds. <em>“Man! You really don’t know when to give up, do ya?!”</em> he exclaimed with a particular, and rather suspicious in Solomon’s eyes, smile. <em>“It’s like the tenth time this week I’ve seen you around. She still hasn’t let you past the door, has she?”</em> he added. <em>“It’s useless. When she gets like this there’s nothing you can do, you just gotta sit on your butt and wait until she has calmed down. Hell, you could buy her the whole Devildom and that wouldn’t matter to her. Take it from me, man, apology gifts is not the way to go with this one.”</em> Mammon continued to ramble towards the human’s direction. Solomon was quietly staring at him, his finger had nervously begun to fidget with the sky-blue stone the ring he wore on his right hand had, his eyes were squinted suspiciously towards the demon who was now childishly smiling before him, oddly pleased by his own advice; Solomon was warry around Mammon, mostly because he figured you had told him about the little stunt he pulled out. He thought he would be devoured without a second guess. However, the ruthless demon he had pictured The Avatar of Greed to be was certainly not living up to his horrifying expectations. He seemed so harmless, even cooperating; he looked like any other random human trying to make small talk.</p><p><em>“Mammon. You are not mad?”</em> as he pressed his nail against the golden circle around his finger, Solomon put together the courage to ask. Mammon’s smile dropped along with his head, but it quickly began to shake side to side. He took a deep breath before raising his sight back up to Solomon, he motioned to the couch in front of him as an invitation for the human to sit down. The sorcerer hesitantly complied, his guard still up, nonetheless. <em>“I won’t lie to ya, Solomon, I wanted to tear you apart limb by limb, and feed your roasted-up heart to Beel.”</em> Mammon said with a worryingly serious expression. <em>“But after thinkin’ it through, I decided I wouldn’t”</em> he added. A very pale, even more so, and now scared wizard raised a brow questioningly, as his nails dug onto the fine leather underneath them, he swallowed back a thick lump in his throat and proceeded to speak up <em>“I appreciate your mercy, Mammon”</em> he clumsily answered. Mammon broke into a somewhat amused laugh. <em>“Relax, Solomon, I get stupid ideas when I’m mad. I don’t really act up on ‘em most the time though. Plus, I got to thinking and, if it had been the other way around, you were dating her and I found a video of you cheating, I would have showed it to her too.”</em> He answered, his cheeks vaguely colored pink. Solomon’s muscles finally untightened, and his back rested against the support of the couch he was sitting on. <em>“I really didn’t mean to break you two up. I had it for two weeks and when you didn’t speak up about it. I just thought she needed to know.”</em> He explained wholeheartedly. <em>“I get it.”</em> Mammon answered, his upbeat tone and expression long gone. <em>“I was a coward for not telling her. I thought if I kept it quiet, I could forget it happened and move on. I was going to be the only one to carry with that burden, but it would be okay if I had her by my side. Guess I never thought she’d be filming us. I’m a dumbass, a show-off like that witch, of course she filmed us; and then spread it around the magic community in the human world without a shame. Y’know, you can shit on us demons all you want, but we know the meaning of consent, man, that wasn’t right.”</em> His final words ended up into a bit of a whine. <em>“So, you didn’t want to do it?”</em> a natural and strong curiosity arose within Solomon. <em>“Of course not!”</em> Mammon yelled to the top of his lungs, his tone denoting that he was clearly offended. His eyes portrayed a weird shine of anger, although Solomon couldn’t figure whom it was directed to <em>“That witch had nothing on my girlfriend! Don’t think I was moronic enough to hurt her on purpose! Do not dare compare a show-off, greedy, and shallow bitch to our beloved human!”</em> if possible, his voice seemed to get louder by the word. Solomon was leaning forward, eyes examining every muscle on the demon’s body. Mammon was known for being reckless, idiotic, and a bit of high libido horndog; regardless, something that had been nagging at Solomon, ever since he found out about his disloyalty, was that conscious betrayal sounded a bit out of character for him. He had heard a lot about Mammon from his brothers, Satan and Asmodeus, he’d listened to hours of rambles about how stupid he was, how he had royally fucked up, how he acted like the youngest even though he was second to eldest, how he was unreliable, and every time he showed up to help, he ended up making more of a mess. That was the thing, he still showed up every time, for better, or worse, or even nothing. Mammon was there, for his family, and for you.</p><p><em>“If you don’t mind me asking”</em> Solomon started to speak up when Mammon’s demeanor began to relax<em>. “How did you end up in such situation? If you didn’t want anything to do with that witch, and you didn’t owe her a dime, why did you go into the room with her?”</em> the wizards words worked perfectly to make Mammon embarrassed. His right hand reached his head, for some reason it seemed to pain him to remember that night, his fingers locked into the silvery hair, he was pulling them a little, almost as if he owed himself a bit of suffering. <em>“I…”</em> he stuttered a bit “<em>I don’t know, Solomon. If I’m honest with you, I can’t even remember much. I was drinking, but human liquor had never affected me in the slightest; must have been some sort of premium thing. I remember fighting with her, and next thing was having her beneath me while I thrusted into her. Whatever happened in between is just a little…”</em> before he could finish, Solomon sticked a word to end his sentence for him <em>“Cloudy?”</em> he said. Mammon nodded to confirm is inquiry. <em>“Whatever. It doesn’t justify what I did; and looking back at it, us breaking up, was probably for the best. Didn’t it sound a little too cliché? A human falling for a demon who changes his ways in the name of love.”</em> The young avatar let out a chuckle <em>“sounds like a TV drama that Levi would enjoy a little too much”</em> he added.</p><p>Solomon’s expression had softened since the beginning of the conversation; now all it reflected was pure pity, a expression his friend would certainly not enjoy, and so, he was making his best to mask it behind a serious, concerned stare. <em>“You are still quite in love with her, aren’t you?”</em> their eyes locked as Mammon surprisedly looked back at him. He knew immediately how guilty Solomon should feel, and how sorry he must look when talking about it all. “<em>Me?! Haha! Come on, Solomon! Yeah, yeah, she’s great and all, but I got a whole line of babes ready to hit me up! I’m not some rando, I am The Great Mammon after all! I ain’t gonna go around hung up on a lame ass human!” </em>even though his tone was loud and obnoxious, his body was barely keeping up with the energy, his eyes seemed glassy, and his shoulders were down and vaguely shaking. Something clicked within Solomon at the sight, a feeling he couldn’t quite explain, as words were probably not enough to describe it. He got up and reached for his right pocket, he had thrown in there the small box he’d bought for you sometime during the night. In a swift movement he laid it on the coffee table that complemented the furniture set<em>. “Well, I’m glad you’ve moved on. You two appear to have gone back to normal, and so have your brothers. I’ll take you up on that advice, no more gifts, however this one was quite expensive, so could you do me a favor and hand it to her?”</em> Mammon was taken slightly aback by the sudden request, even so he reached for the small, blue box, and held it gently between his hands. “<em>She’ll forgive you too, Solomon. She just needs some time.” </em>The white-haired demon blurted out. <em>“Don’t know about that.”</em> The wizard’s words were followed by a blue chuckle. <em>“She will. I’ve seen the way you guys look at each other. You’re very especial to her.”</em> Mammon reassured him. Solomon simply smiled back at him before heading out of the living room.</p><p>If you had managed to forgive him, it was because you had a strong, loving shoulder to cry on. All he could do was return the favor, and without hesitation he headed to your room. Simeon and Luke were on their way out, they exchanged a couple of polite words before exiting the House of Lamentation. Beelzebub and Belphegor had been dismissed for the night, and so your room was unprotected, he grabbed the knob and tested a little twist, it was also unlocked. The sudden click of your door startled you to the point of bouncing onto your bed “<em>W-Who’s there?!”</em> you yelled. <em>“It’s me!”</em> Mammon yelled back. You recognized his voice without further explanation, and so, you relaxed back against the pillows you had arranged behind your back to keep it up. The demon confidently walked in your direction; the way he sat at the edge of the bed felt very familiar. <em>“What are you doing here?”</em> you asked out of habit. <em>“I’ve actually come to give you something.”</em> He answered as he held the box and laid it on your blanket-covered lap. “A gift from you?” you said with a skeptic tone <em>“What did you do this time?”</em> you added. <em>“Nothin’ dumbass! I’m just the messenger this time! Just open it up and get off my hair, will ya?!”</em> the way he yelled got a smile out of you. The smile, however, drifted away the second you focused on the contents of the box.</p><p>A beautiful gold necklace with a sky-blue stone, right in the middle, was perfectly arranged around a piece of foam. You couldn’t pinpoint the price, but it sure didn’t look cheap. It was human-made, and the stone seemed to be a human mineral, too, even if you didn’t recognize it by glance only. As if it wasn’t clear enough who the sender was, a note was laying at the bottom of the box; you really didn’t want to hear from Solomon, but your curiosity got the best of you.</p><p>
  <em>“To my best friend, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You’ve gone through your share of pain and disgraces, and I’m truly sorry and ashamed to have contributed to them. I’m aware words will not suffice, nor today, nor tomorrow, perhaps not even in months to come. I respect your decision, as I’m no one to dictate how you shall deal with your sorrow. Nonetheless, I beg you accept from me this humble gift. From this golden chain hangs a blue chalcedony stone. A stone used by wizards to bring clarity and peace to the inner self. You deserve a peaceful life, filled with joy and laughter. If you wish to take me back into it, I’m more than willing, and if not, do know you’ll always have a shoulder to rely on. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Earnestly, your emotional support wizard. Solomon.” </em>
</p><p>Even though he was unable to make out what the note said, Mammon had the bravery to speak up his mind. “<em>I think you should forgive him.”</em> He said tenderly. “<em>He didn’t mean harm; he was just trying to protect you.”</em> He muttered as he reached out to land a hand on top of yours. <em>“Protect me from what, exactly, Mammon?! Happiness?!”</em> you screamed in his direction and he could finally see the tears that had taken over your face. <em>“We were happy! We were incredibly happy before I saw that video! If I had never watched it….”</em> He interrupted before you could finish <em>“You would be sharing a bed with a cheater.”</em> His expression seemed a bit pained, not at the level of despair yours was, but still, you could feel the sorrow in his words. “<em>We said we wouldn’t bring it up anymore, we’re in a good place, on a good path, but you know we weren’t perfect. We lied to each other and ourselves, we tricked us and others into thinking we were a normal couple, even where there were many things in the way, we just decided to ignore them. If we had been as strong as we thought we were, we would still be here, betrayal and all.”</em> The stream of tears was relentless as he spoke in your direction, your hand had turned over to cling onto his, a grip he was gladly returning. <em>“I’m just so angry, Mammon. I’m angry that things didn’t go as I wanted, as I pictured them to go. I know it’s not his fault, I shouldn’t be mad at him, but I have to direct this anger at someone, otherwise it will consume me, and I’m done being mad at you, I have punished you enough.” </em>Your body began to shake. He quickly caught up on the symbolism your body offered him, without a second guess he moved over, his back supporting itself against the headboard. You fixed your position to be laying instead, cheek pressed against his chest as you felt his arm secure you against him by your shoulders, his free hand making its way to the back of your head, offering a soothing massage to your scalp. You buried your face against the black fabric of his shirt as you let your emotions run free. “<em>Ya know, if you can’t find someone to be mad at for no reason, Lucifer is always my go-to”</em> both of you chuckled at his statement.</p><p>You were going to call Solomon that night, truly, but the warmth and gentle embrace of your beloved friend had managed to put you in a deep slumber. It was good you didn’t do it, anyway, the fact that he wouldn’t pick up would have made you upset and caused you to rethink the whole friendship. He had a great excuse, though, he was on a crusade to meet with Lucifer, and he couldn’t afford distractions. </p><p>He knocked on the surface of the elegant ebony door, a mere grunt being the only response to indicate him to come in. The eldest brother raised his head with a bit of disappointment. <em>“Solomon, if this is regarding your little quarrel with madame, you must know I have no interest in mediating yet another disagreement.”</em> Lucifer stated as he watched Solomon take a sit on one of the guest chairs in front of his desk. “<em>Not precisely.”</em> Solomon answered.<em> “Before we get to the point of my visit, may I ask, why is everyone calling her madame?”</em> Mere embarrassment made its way to Lucifer’s face at Solomon’s remark. He brought his fingertips to the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tightly. <em>“She had been down all week and Mammon proposed we treat her as royalty to make her feel better, Belphie started calling her ‘Madame’ as an ironic joke, it caught up rather quickly, and apparently I’ve begun to say it unconsciously as well. It’s been a chaotic week, Solomon, so why not just cut to the chase? I’m swamped in work.”</em> He ordered as his attention returned to the pile of papers laying under his hands. <em>“You are aware your younger brother is still madly in love with my fellow human, correct?”</em> he asked. <em>“Certainly.”</em> Lucifer dryly replied. <em>“I’m pretty sure you have your own opinions regarding their relationship and current dynamic.”</em> Solomon continued. <em>“Which I’d rather keep to myself.”</em> Lucifer again answered without a thought. <em>“As expected. Even so, I’d like to offer you my cooperation.”</em> Solomon’s words had still not earned a glance from Lucifer. <em>“Cooperation for what?” </em>he inquired as he put away yet another signed form. <em>“To get rid of the concerns I know you have. I’ve actually come with a plan to make this end once and for all”</em> as his words echoed across the office the Avatar of Pride finally brought himself to rest the pen onto the wooden surface. He let out a big sigh, and his piercing red eyes daggered onto Solomon’s silhouette <em>“Alright.”</em> He nodded slightly.<em> “I’m listening.”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sketchy x Shady is my new OTP. What can Lucifer and Solomon be up to? To be honest, I'm scared myself. There's not that many chapters left, so if you have any comments, opinion, or suggestion, let me know! the ending is not decided yet!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Honesty first.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Solomon and you still haven't made up, however harmony reigns in the House of Lamentation, or so it reigned, until a proposition from Lucifer will have your friendship with Mammon at test.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>After one horrible month, I finally managed to finish this chapter. It's been a very rocky month, in all sense of the word. I started my own teaching business, still very small but very time consuming. Add a writers block and we have a formula for a one month hiatus. I'm not entire satisfied with this chapter, but I hope it fills your hearts for the time being. I really love this story, and I'm not giving up on it! </p><p>On a side note, if you wish to support my writing, you can donate or take one of the comission spots i opened on my ko-fi site! https://ko-fi.com/soukitas</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>“The what?!”</em> the demons inside the chambers seemed to roar in unison. Their dropped jaws and perplexed expressions, along with the utterly distressed tone in their voice, hinted Lucifer to an endless meeting that was about to be flooded with complaints.</p><p><em>“The Annual Witches, Sorcerers, and Demons Symposium.”</em> Diavolo repeated himself for the rest of the council with a kind smile. <em>“Since the exchange student program has been such a success, and your healthy relationships with both of our lovely human guests serve as evidence of such, Lucifer suggested it’s about time we reinforced our already stablished bonds with humans, in other words, we want to invite those magical beings, who have somewhat become a part of yourselves when you made a pact with them, to come down to the Devildom for a series of fruitful activities, introduce them to the kingdom, etc. Hopefully, we will be doing this in a more positive way, to even call each other friends, instead of having mundane master-servant dynamics.”</em> He continued.</p><p>The heavy aura in the room had turned them into long-faced idiots, contrary to the lively, obnoxious-faced idiots they used to be. Solomon was a beautiful exception to the otherwise dreaded rule: All witches and sorcerers were entitled asses who used demons to satisfy their own twisted whims. Pacts with them were part of their cursed duties, but that didn’t mean they actually got to enjoy it.</p><p>Satan, who had started to naturally feel annoyed by the suggestion, pinched the bridge of his nose as he wiggled on his seat to straighten his position. <em>“My lord, I certainly don’t have the intention to contradict you-”</em> he began to speak up before Lucifer cut him off <em>“If that’s not your intention, there’s no need for you to continue talking, is there, Satan?” </em></p><p>The gazes of the two brothers met and roaring thunder appeared to come from in between. The remaining members of the council awaited at the edge of the chairs for the imminent cataclysm. <em>“Ya, Ya, Ya, it’s too early to go around blowing up the meeting room! I have business to take care alter and I ain’t looking to die because of your fighting! So, you better take it down a notch right now!”</em> Mammon stood up as he slammed his palms onto the table. At the sudden commotion, the quarreling brothers put a pause to their over-the-top-staring contest and directed their attention to the speaking demon. “<em>Lord Diavolo, the humans who are here are not like those witches and wizards we have pacts with, they are mean, greedy, moody, and a little too handsy if you ask me. They don’t really care about the Devildom as a different realm to visit, they want the secrets, treasures, and power it holds; so what would we even do? Go around pretending to like ‘em? Show them around like some lame tour guides?”</em> the demon’s tone suggested he was making a sarcastic joke. Unfortunately for him, the prince of hell had yet to know what sarcasm meant.  </p><p><em>“Magnificent idea, Mammon!”</em> Diavolo exclaimed with his distinctive can’t-read-the-room-cheerful tone. <em>“We originally planned for you seven to welcome the guests personally, let them roam free for schedules activities, and then dine all together, but a full hands-on, assisted tour sounds like a true welcoming and peace-making experience.”</em> Diavolo crossed his arms over his chest; he looked a little bit too pleased with himself for the liking of the brothers.</p><p>They channeled their annoyance on Mammon instead, looking at him with daggers shooting out of their eyes<em>. “Don’t go around twisting my words!”</em> he shouted out, almost like a whine, in Diavolo’s direction. <em>“Quiet, Mammon.”</em> Lucifer forced him back down onto his chair by the shoulder <em>“I take it, my lord, that you have made your decision. Very well, we will, as always, do our best to work hard in order for your vision to come true. Barbatos and his organization committee are already onto the preparations for the festival and special Devildom keynote speakers. As for us, the student council, I’ve prepared a list of remarked attendees for each of you to accompany during their stay. Five humans per demon, although it’s not for sure that every listed person will descend, so part of your duty is to corroborate with them and confirm their attendance. This said, you are to abide to your list, you cannot change with anyone, nor have anyone else take care of your duties. Understood?”</em> As he finished his little, unrequested, speech Lucifer began to pass around the personalized papers. The brothers rolled their eyes in unison; as they read the names some grimaces were formed, some in disgust, some in average dissatisfaction, and others in utter fear. Mammon, to be precise.</p><p>The second-to-oldest stared in disbelief at a very particular, dreaded name at the bottom of the list. His nails dug into the paper material to the point of almost ripping it apart. He slammed his fists against the wooden table instead, the list flying across the meeting table only to end up before Belphegor’s hands. <em>“Are you fucking kidding me, Lucifer?! Are you doing this on purpose to teach me some kind of lesson?!”</em> Mammon screamed at the top of his lungs, the way the half-scowl came out gave his throat a sharp pain.</p><p>Lucifer did not dare look at him, his ruby eyes fixed unbothered at he bunch of other documents he held within his gloved hands; his brothers, on the other hand, were frozen on their places, their backs glued to the backrest as they tried to get as far as way as possible. It was not always they got to see Mammon angry, he was commonly noisy, and even constantly looked annoyed, but among the seven of them he was the least likely to unleash his wrath upon someone, let alone that person being one of his beloved brothers.</p><p>Belphegor’s curiosity got the best of him as he roamed through the listed names, only to find an annoyingly familiar one at the bottom. <em>“What does it say?”</em> Asmo, who happened to be sitting next to him during the meeting, curiously poked a question. The youngest demon took a small breath, a disappointed yet unsurprised tone covering his words “<em>The last name on the list, that’s the name of the witch Mammon cheated on with.” </em></p><p>The tension in the room was physically unbearable, giving Levi a particularly hard time, as everyone looked expectantly at Lucifer, trying to get any sort of explanation. Truth to be told, it was no surprise that the eldest would pull a stunt like that, he was known for having odd ways to help his brothers grow or face their problems, but he never had ill motives behind his actions; they wanted that, even Mammon himself, expected any sort of reason to be putting the Avatar of Greed, their adored moron, through such a hellish experience. <em>“Your personal life is no matters of the council, when it comes to diplomacy between the worlds, you’re to obey your instructions and put your love life to the side. I’m surprised I even have to explain this to you, but who you sleep with or not it’s none of our business as rulers of this kingdom. Grow up and abide to the orders, as they come directly from the prince of hell.”</em> that was the explanation they got instead. There seemed to be no emotion in his voice, as if the demon he was talking to was a common employee who was to take it as it came, no whining allowed. The room remained covered in an astonished silence, Barbatos and Diavolo being no exception. Mammon himself seemed at a loss of words, was he doing it on purpose? Did he, for the first time, have an evil ulterior motive? Did he have feelings for you? Was he trying to break you two apart, even when your only connection left was a still developing friendship? As he sunk deeper and deeper into his groundless thoughts, and spiraled into jealous desperation, he didn’t have a chance to realize that Lucifer was already gone, along with Barbatos and Diavolo. His brothers had gathered around him instead, keeping some distance from the yellow flames that weakly danced over his flesh, their crunched up faces showed sheer concern for his state, and it wasn’t unril he heard a small gasp from Asmo that he could feel the stream of tears rolling down his face. He shook his body in confusion, causing the fire to dissipate.</p><p>Beelzebub jumped into the opportunity to draw him into his arms from behind, and Asmodeus charged into his older brother’s chest instead. <em>“H-Hey! What are two doing let go of me!”</em> typically of Mammon, his words wanted something that his body disagreed with; his arms began to wrap around the fifth brother’s shoulders, and his back rested defeatedly into the safety of the red head’s embrace.</p><p><em>“Lucifer sure can be ruthless when it comes to Diavolo’s wishes, can’t he?”</em> Satan said. <em>“He should have considered Mammon’s feelings, sure, but he’s technically not asking him to do anything wrong.”</em> Belphegor replied absentmindedly. Levi and Satan looked at him in shock. <em>“WHOA! Belphie are you defending Lucifer</em>?!” Levi shouted in his direction. <em>“How did you even get to that conclusion, Levi? What I meant was: They are not together anymore, correct? They called it quits. Technically Mammon can come and go and do whatever he pleases with whomever he pleases, and it shouldn’t be any of his ex-girlfriend’s business, isn’t it right?”</em> he explained towards his older brother.</p><p>The grips around his body loosened and Mammon had the chance to move away from the suffocating love circle. <em>“But you don’t get it Belphie. The only reason why we’re still friends is because she still somehow believes in me when I say no feelings were involved. If I show up with that bitch on my arm, and she sees me, there’s no way she’s going to believe me. It’s going to crush her. I don’t want to hurt her all over again.”</em> Mammon still had a couple of droplets hanging from the corner of his eyes, they looked as blue as they could.</p><p>Belphegor felt a slight pain on his chest, was that pity? It was. He felt sorry for the older brother he never expected to feel that way for. <em>“Who says she’s gotta know?” the youngest began to speak up, and Mammon looked intrigued by the proposition. “I’m just saying. She’s probably gonna have a bunch of tasks like the rest of us. She’ll be busy doing her share of things, if we all work together, we can stop her from meeting the two of you. Plus, she’s not the only guest, you’ll have nine others to attend, so even if she sees you, you won’t be doing anything suspicious or hurtful”</em> he shrugged his last words nonchalantly.</p><p>The siblings exchanged pondering looks, everyone but Mammon who had a harder time trying to process the scenario in his head. He blinked a couple of times before sighing heavily, his head dropping in shame<em>. “That’s the same thing I did when I didn’t tell her about the affair, I tried to act like nothing happened hoping it would go away, and it only ended up biting me in the ass.”</em> He answered annoyedly, crossing his arms over his chest.</p><p><em>“Thank Hell, for once you’re making sense, Mammon”</em> Satan said with a relieved sigh.<em> “You are somewhat an adult, and she’s a caring and understanding person. The whole sneaking around thing would have been entertaining three hundred years ago, specially with some random succubus you didn’t really care for. But this situation involves two people we cherish and wish for their well-being. So, just go ahead and talk to her. She knows you, and most importantly she knows Lucifer. My bet is that she’ll direct her anger towards him instead of you, but only if you prove to her you’re being honest, you have to tell her first.” </em></p><p>Mammon began to shake in his place with anticipation, it was like a fire had been lit up under his buttocks. He needed to tell you. He needed to explain. He needed you to <em>trust</em> <em>him</em>. That was the missing piece, and he knew it.</p><p><em>“Uh, Mammon…”</em> Levi began to explain. <em>“I think you better do it fast. Check your D.D.D.”</em> And as if they were middle schoolers with hot gossip between their hands, all of them took out their devices to read the House of Lamentation text chain.</p><p><strong><em>[11:00am] You:</em></strong> <em>Are you guys out of the meeting yet? </em></p><p><strong><em>[11:15am] Lucifer:</em></strong> <em>We just wrapped it up. However, I need to properly inform you about our future activities, and Diavolo has a special favor to ask from you. Please meet us at the Devil Lord’s Castle in ten minutes.</em></p><p><em>“In ten minutes… but the text was twenty minutes ago, it means she’s already at Diavolo’s castle!”</em> Mammon shouted out. “Lucifer could have already told her everything by now!” desperation was written as over his face, he fidgeted with his phone, looking around for the entrance door he had suddenly forgotten where it was. Beelzebub grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him in the direction of the exit. Not a second later he sprinted out of the room.</p><p><em>“That was pretty quick math for Mammon” </em>Belphegor said as a joke. <em>“Well, I guess when the love of your life is at stake, not even integral math is hard.”</em> Satan added with certain sarcasm in his voice<em>. “LOOOOOL. Mammon must still be super in love”</em> Levi barged in. <em>“So, then it’s true what they say? A love of a good woman can change a man?”</em> Beelzebub asked. <em>“Such a romantic you turned out to be Beel, but you couldn’t be more wrong.”</em> Asmodeus began to reply to his question <em>“Their love is not superglue to put together whatever is broken. Their is forgiving, supporting, and caring, that's why to get the love of a good woman can make a man want to change. For himself and for her. He’s trying to become and demon worth of her; and I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of rooting for him” </em>he exclaimed as he looked adoringly in the direction his brother had left.</p><p>Only a few meters away from the RAD student council room, Mammon was already running out of breath. The castle was yet so far away, it would take him another fifteen minutes to get there. He wouldn’t make it time. He wasn’t sure if you knew about the visit already. He didn’t know what had already come out of Lucifer’s mouth. He couldn’t risk it. He pulled out his device and looked for your contact the fastest his shaky fingers and heavy breathing allowed him to. The dialing beeps echoed painfully against his ear.</p><p>You had to excuse yourself, very embarrassedly, to take the call. Mammon was always a clingy boyfriend, not in a toxic way, but whenever you weren’t together, which was almost never, he liked to keep tabs on you; not to control you, just to make sure you were safe. It was almost Pavlovian how you, no matter where you were, made time to pick up his calls. When you finally made it to the hall outside Diavolo’s study room you had the nerve to pick up. “What’s up, Mammon? I’m in the middle of a meeting with Lucifer and Lord Diavolo, can you call me back?” you almost muttered against the mic.</p><p><em>“This can’t wait!”</em> his high-pitched voice pierced through your eardrum as he screamed into his. “Before you go back in, you need to hear something from me!” he yelled once more. “All right, I’m listening.” You answered as you pinched the bridge of your nose. You were going to get scolded by Lucifer when you went back in, and it was giving you a headache in anticipation.</p><p>You could hear him taking a breath in and you knew you were in for a whole story, with prologue, body, and epilogue. “We’re hosting a convention or whatever in a couple of days. Diavolo and human diplomacy and whatever crap. Part of those activities include a tour or something like that where we have to be very close with the guests assigned to us. And one of the guests assigned to me is… that witch.” The end of his sentence was slightly more uptight and nervous that the rest. He had taken you by surprise, mostly because he seemed to think you knew what he was talking about.</p><p><em>“What witch?”</em> you answered cluelessly. Silence was the only thing you heard on the other line, but it was, honestly, all you needed for all the pieces to fall into place. <em>“Oh…”</em> you said disappointedly. <em>“I tried to get out of it. The lists were made by Lucifer. I stand by what I said before, I don’t care about her, and I know we’re just friends but it felt like, if I didn’t tell you, I would just be lying to you all over again. I just wanted you to hear it from me first. So, are we cool?”</em> his words, even when you knew were sincere, were not doing you any favors. If your head didn’t already hurt twenty seconds ago, now it was pounding with a mix of feelings that you had trouble processing. Anger, jealousy, sadness, disappointment, altogether in a cocktail mixed for failure. <em>“Can I call you back?”</em> that’s all you managed to say. You couldn’t even wait for his soft ‘yes, of course’ before you hit the red button. You weren’t thinking rationally, hell, you weren’t thinking at all. You busted into the study room yet again, door slamming open, hands curled into fists, and a vein showing up on your forehead. You got closer to the crammed-up desk, and the second Lucifer raised his sight at you, your palms hit the wooden surface with wrath.<em> “You invited the witch Mammon cheated on me with!? Are you insane?!”</em> the hostility in your yelling was unexplored by Diavolo and Barbatos. The young prince cleared his throat and muttered under his breath something about leaving the room for the two of you and shortly slid his way out of there along with Barbatos.</p><p><em>“There’s no need to treat me with such insolence.” </em>Lucifer answered you<em>. “It’s a matter of Devildom business, nothing personal.”</em> He reassured.</p><p><em>“Cut the crap, Lucifer.”</em> You snapped back at his a-little-too-business-formality-like reply. <em>“Nothing personal? Hell knows you are anything but stupid. You have enough power to either not have her here, to hand her over to any of the brothers, or to take care of her yourself. So, this whole charade is either to mess with Mammon, or mess with me. If this is one of your other twisted ways of giving him a new teaching, it’s going a little too far. And if this about wanting to put me through pain, it’s also a bit too low of a blow. Was it all crap about wanting to see me happy? Were you just bluffing when you said you would do anything for me? Or do I somehow pose a threat to the equilibrium of the Devildom and, when it comes down to it, it’s true you will always choose Diavolo over any of us!?”</em> tears had started to prick at the corner of your eyes. You did not take a breather while you yelled mercilessly at him. Truth be told, you did not mean a single word you said, you just felt sad and betrayed by someone you had once trusted your life to. You had to take a seat in order to gain back your breath.</p><p>Lucifer stared at you, gloved hands intertwined and resting against his lips as he did. <em>“Are you done?”</em> he brought himself to say, and the quick nod you gave him was enough of an answer for him. “<em>As far as I’m concerned, you two are no longer together, correct? Whoever he hangs out with, shouldn’t be of your interest.”</em> He added. <em>“But yes, you are right. There’s another side to all this. However, I’m not the right person to be asking question regarding so.” </em></p><p>You sighed in annoyance. Lucifer had a very specific mind-game when it came to admitting guilt, the game? He would just never admit his mistakes until one day hopefully one would die. The only way out was to play along. <em>“Then whom can I direct my inquiries to?”</em> you asked in an almost mocking way.</p><p><em>“Solomon.”</em> He said firmly. <em>“It was his idea to pair that specific witch Mammon, after all. If you want to know the truth, I’m afraid you’ll have to finally talk to him” </em>Yes. The only way out was to play the game, but you just kept running into new players.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know what you're a thinking, and yes, I hate my cliff hangers too. Although maybe this one wasn't as hanging or cliffy, since we already knew Solomon was up to something. We might find out what it is in the next chapter! </p><p>I'd love the chapter to be published/written as soon as possible, and I will do my best. If you enjoy my work, donations on my ko-fi page are well appreciated: https://ko-fi.com/soukitas </p><p>It's a little embarrassing to be asking for money, hehe, but times are tough and I'm out of a job. However, i know it's like that for everyone, so if you can't donate, your commentaries on the fic are always what keeps me going. </p><p>Thank you for 5k reads!!!! See you next ep!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Bad decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A symposium organized by the men you trusted the most with the woman who wrecked your relationship as an special guest. Are you in the wrong for feeling betrayed? You did not want to resolve your fight with Solomon just yet, but that smug wizard sure has a way to make you oblige every time.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>it is 6am and half of this was NOT proof read, probably not the best way to make a come back after so long, but hopefully this will be of your taste!!!! it took me so long to even start it and then finished it in one go, i had a lot of fun, threw in a bit of my own lore and getting slightly away from canon, but i hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s a known fact events are fun to everyone but the people hosting them. From birthday parties to weddings and funerals, organizing always takes a toll on one’s mind, body, and soul; needless to say, for this particular event, you felt like you could combust into flames at any given second and you wouldn’t even complain. Pick up this, make that, pay for those, carry these, Lucifer had you running more errands than your mother had asked you to in your entire life. It almost gave you no time to feel sorry for yourself or sink into the despair this sorcery convention was going to create for you. Was that part of Lucifer’s plan all along? Who was to know? Lately, it seemed as if every man you had trusted and loved since your arrival to the Devildom had brought to light some new and very interesting colors, and you, unfortunately, were not colorblind.</p><p>During a whole week you barely exchanged a word with the men living in the House of Lamentation, or anyone outside it for that matter, each one of them was deep to their elbows in tasks, that added to the fact that you were still bummed out about a certain meeting of a certain someone with a certain someone, because of another certain someone and his certain meddling in a certain business that you still refused to make yourself address. Yes, you had forbidden yourself to mention their names unless absolutely necessary, you were going crazy trying to ignore how you felt about the whole Mammon situation, and the Solomon situation, and the Lucifer situation. In short, you were driving yourself crazy, and your solution was to pretend none of them existed, a strategy that was proven successful until the day of the symposium finally came.</p><p>The main streets were flooded by humans of different occupations, none of them to be considered normal for an average human though; sorcerers, wizards, witches, even priests of churches you were sure you’d never heard of. The crowd extended throughout the entire main avenue towards the Demon Lord’s Castle, which’s vast front garden was being used for conferences, discussion groups, and public demonstrations. Your booth was set next to Simeon and Luke’s. You were supposed to share it with Solomon to promote the exchange student program and answer questions to inquiring wizards interested in partaking in future exchanges. Solomon was, not surprisingly, nowhere to be found. Just like your attention span.</p><p><em>“Hey! Can’t you really hear me?!”</em> Luke’s slightly piercing scream was what it took to get you out of your trance.</p><p><em>“Ah, I’m sorry Luke, yes, your cupcake looks magnificent and delicious”</em> you answered absentmindedly.</p><p><em>“That’s not even what I asked you!” </em>he yelled adorably yet again.<em> “I asked if you were okay, you have been tapping your finger on the counter for too long. Also, none of the sorcerers seem to come near you, these are magic-wielding people, you know? For humans magic comes from positive and negative energy, and they can perceive both, so you’re probably emanating a lot of the negative kind, and- ”</em> a hand on top of his head cut him off; shortly after, Simeon’s slender figure gently pushed him out of the way.</p><p><em>“Luke, could you please go ask Barbatos for more Devildom Cultural Introduction pamphlets? I’m afraid we’re running out and we’ll be in need of more as we have a couple more hours to go.”</em> He mentioned into his ear as he gently guided him out of the booth by the shoulders. You could hear the younger angel groaning in protest, but, as much as you adored him, in this very second you couldn’t care less. You sighed in relief when you saw him blend into the crowd and eventually out of your sight. <em>“So, how about some protector-protegee bonding time?”</em> Simeon turned on his heels to have his body facing you instead.</p><p><em>“I’m not really in the mood, Simeon.” </em>You tried to answer as politely as possible.</p><p><em>“We can tell.”</em> He chuckled <em>“How you holding up? According to the schedule, the special guests should be arriving soon, right?”</em> He inquired. You had initially planned to keep your thoughts to yourself, but with so many things happening one after another, you were a helium balloon about to reach its limit; you couldn’t talk to Solomon anymore, not when he had been acting so suspicious, you were still a little bit mad at Lucifer for helping Solomon pull this weird stunt, and you almost burst into tears whenever you tried to even approach Mammon, so, in short, Simeon had been the only outlet you had found during these trying times, it wasn’t like you could pretend to be fine in front of him anyways, he knew, that celestial magic be damned, he could tell the second you started to lie.</p><p><em>“I shouldn’t even be this upset. He’s not my boyfriend.”</em> You said dryly as you yet again diverted your eyes from him. The piercing cyan of his eyes made you nervous, made you feel as they could see through you, into you.</p><p><em>“If only matters of the heart were as easy as handing out titles.”</em> he muttered as he took a step closer to you. His figure now towered you over, his frame caging you in your place.</p><p><em>“Titles don’t mean jackshit to anyone here.”</em> You almost growled in frustration, combined with an attempt to hide the shakiness of your voice, as Simeon’s position was making you rather nervous. You swear you heard him emit a soft ‘language’ in complaint for your selection of words.<em> “Boyfriends cheat on you, best friends sabotage you, sworn brothers set you up. I shouldn’t be surprised, yet, should I? I’ve spent so much time around them I almost forgot they were demons.” </em></p><p><em>“Now, now, aren’t you being a little bit unfair?”</em> he interrupted your rambling.</p><p><em>“Me? I’m the one being unfair?”</em> you snarked back at him “<em>I was brought here without my consent, I’ve been attacked, manipulated, teleported into dangerous realms, set up to have a pact with seven demons, and been in the verge of death a couple times already. I did not ask to be a devildom exchange student, I did not ask to be stuck in a mansion with the rulers of hell, and I certainly did not ask to fall in love with the Avatar of Greed.”</em> And just like that, he was yet again able to make you lose your composure; a week ago you would have broken down into a salty river of tears, but to this point you were all dried out. He watched with certain pity as your lip quivered and eyes reddened, and he felt once again the discomfort run up his veins.</p><p><em>“Do you know the meaning of fate?”</em> his words began to make your blood boil. Simeon is the guardian angel anyone would kill to have. He is sweet, understanding, loving. One thing about Simeon though, he is a wiseass. You never minded much, you adored him so, but your moodiness, that had not gone unnoticed by your housemates and friends, was for sure getting the worst out of you. However, whatever negative feeling was corrupting your body, it certainly faded when his fingertips finally landed on your cheek. He gently tilted your head up, and as your eyes locked an indescribable calmness ran through you. <em>“Fate was a concept created by our father to address the reason of our existence. An angel’s fate is always to complete the task they have been given. For demons, once they fell from heaven, their fate was to do the opposite angels do, they brought upon themselves to represent everything that heaven wasn’t, that was the price to pay when rebelling against it. As you know, once our father created humans, he assigned them a fate as well, nonetheless, as a little experiment, he made gave them something he had never given another being before: a choice. This choice would alter their fate, but once they made it, they were on their own, and their fate would be in constant change until their journey had come to an end.”</em> He made a pause as he smiled ever so gently. <em>“Do you know why both angels and demons are so envious of humans? Because you can thread your destiny as you please, in the direction you want, for as long as you live.”</em> The way his knuckles decided to brush against your skin sent a shiver running down your spine. You were too indulged in his stare to notice a slender figure standing before you two until the clearing of a raspy throat broke the bubble Simeon had created around you.</p><p><em>“Am I interrupting something?”</em> Solomon’s voice was adorned by an oddly dark smile.</p><p><em>“Not at all.”</em> Simeon mentioned without hesitation. <em>“Luke has been gone for quite a while; I’ll be checking up on him.”</em> He added before directing himself in the direction the younger angel had gone moments before, in a blink leaving you alone with the sorcerer.</p><p>It had been the first time you had properly faced Solomon since the night he had confessed to sending you that video. Right, you had almost forgotten, this whole mess began with a homemade sex tape of your boyfriend with another girl that your best friend had anonymously sent to you. It seemed so cliché, and a little bit ridiculous. You weren’t sure if standing awkwardly next to him while he waved at a couple friends from his Wizard adventures counted as facing him, though, but you were indeed forced to finally evaluate your feelings. Bottom-line: you missed him. Oh, how you missed him; but you were still so angry, and so curious, so full of questions.</p><p><em>“What are you doing here, Solomon?”</em> not exactly the million-dollar question, but it was certainly a place to start.</p><p><em>“Why, I was supposed to be sharing this booth with you, wasn’t I?”</em> he directed his gaze to you, a glance you did not reciprocate, he had on that signature shady smile of his, and yet it quickly faded at the sight of your furrowed brows and grimaced face. <em>“Also, I came to check on you. I had a little birdy tell me you seemed quite distressed about some of today’s special guests.”</em> He admitted as his eyes wandered back to the lively crowd.</p><p><em>“Yeah, and whose fault is that?”</em> you coldly replied.</p><p>Solomon’s eyes parted as his jaw fell open, his surprised expression quickly replaced by a small, self-comforting chuckle. <em>“I see. So, Lucifer couldn’t keep to himself, huh? I guess I should have seen it coming, that little prideful weasel, he really hates it when you’re upset with him.” </em>He reassured to you.<em> “I’m a bit curious, though, about how much of today’s events you were notified of.”</em></p><p><em>“God, Solomon, you planned even more? Bringing and pairing up that bitch with Mammon, was that not enough? Is this payback for not accepting your gifts? I gotta tell you, though, if you wanted a chance to make it right, you are not doing yourself any favors.”</em> your tone was stone cold. Anger, annoyance, pain, he could pick apart every emotion you were feeling just by the way you clicked your tone and adverted your gaze. Venom might as well come out from your tongue and land at his hands. Truth be told, it felt like needles stabbing at his heart.</p><p><em>“At least one of the gifts made it through security, didn’t it, madame?” </em>his eyes then landed on the bright, sky blue stone that hung from your neck, the very same one he had gifted to you and Mammon so insistently told you to keep, at least as a remainder that reconciliation was possible. The feeling of his gaze and the faint smirk on his face brought burning blood up to yours. <em>“How’s that working for you?”</em> as if to find a way to keep the momentum going, since this was the most he had talked to you in a fair amount of time, he shot the embarrassing question in your direction.</p><p><em>“Hard to say.”</em> You answered, your attention still placed on the crowd before you that little by little seemed to be dissipating. <em>“I’ve never been so distressed before in my life, so whether it’s calming me down, or I’ve just become numb to the craziness surrounding my roommates, it’s a little difficult to tell.” </em>despite the heavy weight laying on your chest you decided to answer earnestly.</p><p>You earned a chuckle from him. You were sharing the same doubts he’d felt back then when he had first worn that stone as aid for his anxiety. Out of a sudden, the purplish sky lit up a vibrant royal blue. It was a glare that lasted just a second, similar to lighting in the human world. A beautiful, breathtaking happening to anyone that didn’t know its meaning. Satan had talked to you about it later that day, humans with certain magical power and of a certain status used special tunnels to get down to the Devildom, these portals required a demon they had a pact with to be awaiting their arrival on the other side; certain demons, such as the seven rulers of hell, didn’t require a pact to be able to bring a sorcerer through the tunnels, this being known Belphegor had warned you, if you saw royal blue glare illuminate the sky it meant Lucifer had used his power to welcome a guest. And there was only one guest Lucifer wanted to personally welcome.</p><p>As darkness fell upon the sky again, you could hear a loud crack fill the air.</p><p>You thought for a second it had been your heart, you wouldn’t be surprised, after all this was the moment you had been dreading the most.</p><p><em>“That’s how you know it’s working.”</em> Solomon’s voice brought you back from your Shakespearean fantasy. Taken off guard, you finally brought yourself to look at him, only to catch him pointing at the gemstone by your chest. “<em>The cracks. It means it’s taking some of your negative energy within it.”</em> He watched attentively as lines kept appearing across it, each time they grew larger and closer to the center. He brought his hand to gently hold his own chin thoughtfully. <em>“If the stone breaks, the energy will backfire at you, and you shouldn’t be out here if that happens. Barbatos gave me the key to one of the guest rooms in case we needed some rest, let me take you there.”</em> He offered, the concern in his voice sounded genuine, but it was that precisely what was annoying you the most. Who was he to be concerned now? How dared he be worried over a pain he was causing you?</p><p><em>“Oh, because you always know what’s best for me?”</em> you snapped back. The reaction you got, however, was not the feisty or sarcastic one you expected; instead, Solomon’s eyebrows had furrowed, and his eyes seemed almost pleading.</p><p>The magic stone, the feelings of despair, or the fact that he had looked at you with those glimmering eyes you had long yearned for, you didn’t know what made you take the decision to listen to him. You did not hold his hand or allowed him to guide you, neither did he try as he just led the way, occasionally looking back to made sure you were still behind him. You went through the familiar halls until you reached the guest room. It was as neatly arranged as it had been the times you were there before. Barbatos sure had a talent to make wherever you went feel like home but sharing that place with Solomon certainly didn’t have the same soothing energy you had expected to get.</p><p><em>“The cracks keep growing, and if it breaks, the backslash might harm you, so please try to calm down. Do what you can to relax.”</em> He was sitting on a chair across the room while you rested awkwardly by the edge of the bed, your leg tapping constantly against the floor as your nervously stole glances from the window. A couple more glares beamed onto the sky, the other brothers were also welcoming their respectively assigned guests. You remembered the schedule by heart, meeting with Diavolo, Castle tour, Main street shopping time, private dinner at ristorante six, and lastly some free bonding time between demons and masters. The last one, of course, being the one you were least looking forward to hearing about, or even think that it was taking place. That’s why, when he suggested you had to relax, your fists curled on the bedsheets.</p><p><em>“You know what?”</em> whenever you said those words, it was a signal that your patience had began to wear off. “<em>I’m thinking there’s nothing I can do to relax, but actually something you can do.”</em></p><p>The question, ignoring the fact that you sounded as if you could murder him at any second, truly intrigued Solomon, scratch that, the fact that you were finally trying to make conversation had him beaming with happiness, at least for tiny bit. <em>“By all means, share your idea, I’m all ears.”</em> He answered.</p><p><em>“Will you tell me once and for all, why did you send me that video?”</em> your sight as you questioned him was pinning him down onto his wooden chair. You were unmoving, and even if he always had an intimidating aura to him, in this very second you refused to be scared by anything. You wanted answers, you had wanted them for a while. You wanted them from Mammon, you craved them from Lucifer, and now you needed them from Solomon.</p><p><em>“You had not dealt with demons before, I thought you were being a little naïve, I wanted to protect you and let you know you were being used.”</em> He said, his face barely changing his expression.</p><p><em>“Cool. Now tell me the real reason” </em>you said coldly. You could tell in the way his eyes twitched and eyebrows raised that he was genuinely surprised.</p><p><em>“What do you mean?”</em> he answered while trying to keep his composure.</p><p><em>“You thought I was naïve, but now you know I’m not. Back then we were nothing but same race acquaintances, as long as I was not eaten dead, you had no further concerns for my wellbeing” </em>you slapped him with your answer.</p><p><em>“Come on.”</em> He scoffed <em>“I already considered you a friend even if the feeling wasn’t mutual, and I hated to see a fellow human being tossed around by a demon.”</em> He kept defending his posture. Your eyes narrowed at him, daggers that dangerously danced around the skin of his neck, he could hear another crack faintly in the distance, that was probably still the calmness stone threatening to shatter pretty soon.</p><p><em>“If you don’t tell me the truth, Solomon, I’ll walk out that door and I swear to the heavens, you will never hear from me again.”</em> Your fists were still tightly gripping the fabric of the covers, and you could hear another crack in the distance, although this sound seemed fainter than the rest, as if it came from far away from your place.</p><p><em>“There’s no fooling you, is there?”</em> he sighed in defeat. He brought his hand up, curled into a fist, and the other one joined it at the hem of his chin, the fingers gently playing with a golden ring with a sky-blue stone, you only caught a glimpse of it, but it seemed to be cracked as well. <em>“Do believe me when I say I thought I was protecting you.” </em>He said, and before you can refute his explanation once more he dared to continue. “<em>But you’re right, I did have an ulterior motive.”</em> The vague memory of a smile was immediately erased from his face. His eyes shimmered with something ironically dark, within your limited knowledge you could only perceive it as solitude. <em>“I just truly wanted to hurt Mammon.” The answer he provided took you a back, and boy, was that an understatement; sheer perplexity was a more accurate way to describe it. You were at a loss of words, and thoughts while at it. Your lips moved as if attempting to form words, but a raised palm quickly put you back in place. “Before your perception of me worsens, allow me to explain myself. You were fairly drunk, so I’m not sure if you recall the story I told you months ago, about the first time I summoned Asmodeus, and what led me to such accomplishment. I might have purposely left out a couple of details, and completely omitted the aftermath. I was a young sorcerer with a broken heart, and the adhesive that put it back together was no other than revenge. I looked for months for the man that had tempted her, I was convinced such a pure soul as my beloved wife’s could not be simply moved by desire. Asmodeus was my partner in crime during my search, and we soon found the culprit. She had cheated with the heir of a neighboring kingdom, with an economy wealthier than my own. Days after my discovery she appeared by my bed, announcing her leave, she was willingly accepting being banished from the kingdom as punishment for her indiscretion. I agreed to her wishes, but it wasn’t long before her marriage to the prince was announced. I wrote a letter, I didn’t want an apology, we were well past that, and I didn’t want her back, I just wanted an answer. I just wanted the why. She replied to not take it personally, it was a matter of business.” </em>He had to take a small pause. You could tell though, that for once his wall was down, entirely. <em>“I brought it up to Asmodeus. He laughed. And I remember exactly what he had said back then ‘A good business, right? This has got Mammon written all over’; as it turned out, my wife had become Mammon’s little pet project, she had been consumed by greed after entering a pact with Mammon with no magical protection whatsoever. Asmodeus helped me out, he lent me his power to cook up a potion, a potion that would force her to chase her greed until her life was ruined. I had not formed a pact with him, so he pulled a little trick worth of the Avatar of Lust without my knowledge. The greater her greed was, so shall her lust. It took just a bit of it to make her cheat on the prince. Of course, courtesy of Asmodeus, the prince found out and, unfortunately, exile did not seem like enough punishment for his shame.”</em> He wanted to continue, but the trembling of his voice seemed to stop him. Even so, you did not need further explanation. Your grip had finally loosened halfway through the story, and your dagger-like eyes were now just full of sympathy. You wanted nothing more than to rush into his arms, but you knew better. After all, two broken pieces of a vessel, if they are not meant to fit, might just trim their edges in a way they’d never fit anywhere else.  </p><p><em>“He’s not that same demon.”</em> You lamely tried to excuse him.</p><p><em>“I know that, at least now I do.”</em> He answered with a nod of his head. “<em>But I know you’re having doubts about whether there’s a slight part of him that’s still demonic enough to hurt on purpose, to be consumed by his own nature.”</em> He shakily reached for the inside pocket of his coat to pull out his D.D.D. and immediately tossed it at you. You were startled enough to struggle catching it, but the second it was secure in your hand you took a curious peek at the screen. The picture showed what seemed to be a live transmission of an empty hotel room.</p><p><em>“What’s this?”</em> you asked him with genuine confusion.  </p><p><em>“The hotel room she booked the second she knew Mammon was going to be her guide.</em>” He answered calmly.</p><p><em>“Why are we able to see this?”</em> you stuttered a bit. It didn’t take more than two braincells to put together Solomon’s plan, but you needed to hear it from him for it to feel real.</p><p><em>“Lucifer helped me set up cameras.”</em> His eyes fixed on you, looking almost apologetic as you returned his gaze. <em>“I have a small suspicion that witch somehow got her hands on my potion, or a copy of it at least. It was powerful enough to work on demons, so there’s a chance that Mammon drank some the night they slept together.” </em></p><p>You laughed nervously. <em>“No, No. That’s not possible. Because that would mean he had no fault on what happened, and that I threw away our relationship.”</em> The long-missed tears finally managed to make a comeback. They relentlessly began to fall down your face as you shook the phone before him in disbelief. With a little bit of panic adorning his eyes Solomon darted out of his seat in your direction, his arms looped around your shoulders and your limbs, a bit against your own advice, welcomed the familiar shape in theirs, your fingers clung onto the fabric of his clothes, and for a second you were both transported to the night that changed your relationship and shaped it into what it was today. He allowed you to sob into his chest, interestingly enough no more cracks could be heard, and it wasn’t until your breath had steadied, at least a bit more, that he pulled back to look down onto you.</p><p><em>“Whether it was the potion or not, this is the only way we can find out. This is the only way you can be sure he’s capable of the self-restraint you have been using as an excuse not to get back together with the person you love.”</em> His hands untangled from you to rest against your cheeks instead. His thumbs brushed soothingly against the skin that covered your cheekbones.</p><p><em>“I’m scared, Solomon.”</em> You muttered in between sobs.<em> “What happens if it was not the potion? Then what?”</em></p><p>He remained frozen in his place as the scenario rushed into his head. He knew it was a possibility, he had known demons long enough to consider it as the only logical explanation. He was almost sure it wasn’t, though, he spent years questioning how such pure hearts could be lured into evil, and he had not asked enough if evil could be lured into goodness by a pure heart. For once in many years, he was not sure of the outcome of one of his experiments, and he hated how the victim wouldn’t be him but you. He wanted you safe, and happy, however that could be, with whomever that could be. That was the only wish he never once wavered. <em>“Then we take everything, leave the devildom, and we do not look back.”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was gone for so long I'm so sorry!!!! please don't give up on this fic just yet!! I had a terrible block, that added with the pandemic and my loss of work i was struggling a bit with no inspo, i even thought about giving up on this, but i so missed mammon, and to celebrate that simeon is datable now (along with solomon ommgggg) i added a little bit of a scene with him hehe. Anyways this fic might end soon, and hopefully i'll update sooner this time. If you come back to read this after so long THANK YOU so very much &lt;3 &lt;3 </p><p>if you can or want  to support/help me you can buy me a ko-fi here: https://ko-fi.com/soukitas !!!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! This is my first obey me related fanfic. I'm BIG fan of writing angst and to stop portraying the brothers like simple shoujo protagonists. However I'm busy a lot so I can't spare much time to write, so this might turn into a One Shot if people are not interested in the story going, so if you like it please let me know! We can see where this goes. </p>
<p>You can check other works and my art! On:</p>
<p>Tumblr: beelmons<br/>Ig: sovkitas <br/>Twt: sovkitas (my twt is personal/gintama related but i go on my obey me rants there too lol)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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